Assam: Bhumi Adhikar Sangram Samiti Continues Satyagraha over Land Patta Demand

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Bhumi Adhikar Sangram Samiti, Assam, continued its indefinite dharna–satyagraha for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, pressing for land pattas for more than 85,000 long-time residents of Guwahati.

Speaking to reporters, the organization’s president, Prabin Jyoti Kalita, accused the Assam Government of deceiving Assamese families with assurances of land pattas while refusing to grant them in recent decisions. He alleged that the BJP-led government had denied pattas to residents of both hill areas and lowlands within the city.

Kalita said the government had misled families through Mission Basundhara 2.0 and 3.0, claiming that separate guidelines introduced under the scheme had excluded families living on hills, N.C. land, government-owned land and forest department land. According to him, many applications submitted under the Basundhara initiative had been rejected at the revenue circle level. He added that around 90 per cent of Guwahati’s families did not possess land pattas and accused the government of deciding against issuing pattas in the names of ryots.

Advisor Pradip Kalita, also present at the protest, said the current government did not represent the interests of indigenous Assamese people. He alleged that the administration had shown no willingness to grant pattas to Assamese families who had lived in the city for generations, while displaying greater interest in providing land to business groups and industrialists from outside the state.

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