At long last, Hatimuria settlers evicted!

Some 300 evicted families were taken back to Gasbari Sar, where they had come from, by boats

From our Correspondent

DIMORIA, Nov 9: For Dispur, it seems the current eviction drive is certainly no horsing around! The government seems to be dead serious in so far as eviction is concerned. At long last, the administration today evicted some 300 families from Hatimuria near Mayong in Morigaon district and took them to where they had come from.

The settlers had been asked to vacate Hatimuria village by the Morigaon district administration earlier, but they refused to comply with the order.

In a joint eviction drive conducted jointly by Morigaon and Darrang district administrations today, some 300 families were evicted from Hatimuria near Mayong. The erosion-affected 300 families had gone to the Hatimuria for shelter from Gasbari sar in Darrang district. They had to desert the sar as it had been eroded by the Brahmaputra. Now the sar has reappeared and it is suitable for human habitation.

The eviction drive was carried out in the presence of the deputy commissioners, superintendents of police and revenue department officials of both Darrang and Morigaon districts. JCB dredgers were used in the demolition drive. All the evicted families were taken back to Gasbari sar where they had come from. They were taken to Darrang district by boats today.

According to reports, some eight years back as many as eight families had gone to Hatimuria near Mayang in Morigaon district from Gasbari Sar near Mangaldai. Since the eight families had claimed themselves to be erosion-affected, the soft-hearted villagers of Hatimuria allowed them to settle temporarily in their village under the condition that they would have to move away as soon as the government made land available for their settlement. During the eight years when the Hatimuria villagers were lulling themselves into a false sense of security on the ground of being local, the settlers were slowly but certainly outnumbering them – with the number of settlers’ families increasing manifold. The local people of Hatimuria awoke only on August 14, 2016 when they were reportedly bashed up by the settlers. A clash between the local residents of the village and the settlers took place, and the locals were at the receiving end.

The demand for the eviction of the settlers from Hatimuria gained ground since the incidence of August 14, 2016 clash.