The Kaziranga Eviction

The way the eviction of illegal occupants of the Kaziranga tiol Park (KNP) was carried out on Monday should make citizens of any civilized country hang their heads in shame. Much of the problem had arisen because the Tarun Gogoi government had ignored the encroachment of huge areas of the KNP by illegal migrants from Bangladesh and deliberately flouted the Gauhati High Court order of October 2015 directing the deputy commissioners of Golaghat, Sonitpur and gaon districts to take expeditious steps to evict the inhabitants in the second, third, fifth and fifth additions of Kaziranga, including Deurchur Chang, Banderdubi and Palkhowa within one month. For a friend of all illegal migrants from Bangladesh and one who is never tired of spouting ‘humanitarian considerations’ even for lawbreakers, this is hardly surprising. But thousands of people in Assam have been shocked and scandalized at the way Tarun Gogoi winked at the encroachment of government land by illegal migrants. The encroachment of KNP land by illegal migrants has gone on for years without the State government having lifted a finger to save huge tracts of the State’s land from encroachment by illegal migrants. Had the encroachment been cleared when it commenced in a concerted manner, the need to shoot down illegal settlers would not have arisen. The worst part of the irony is that the government shoots down two persons who could have been arrested and then feels obliged to pay lakhs of rupees as compensation to the next of kin of those shot down.