No survey of 333 sars in Assam

GUWAHATI, Oct 14: As many as 333 sars in Assam have neither been surveyed, nor named as yet. This is a reality at a time when there is a suspicion on the nationalities of people residing in various sars in the State.

According to information obtained from the State Revenue Department, these 333 sars that have not been surveyed are in ten districts in the State. Dhubri tops the list with 106 such sars, followed by Goalpara with 71, Kamrup with 37, Darrang with 29, Majuli with 27, Barpeta with 25, Dhemaji with 18, Lakhimpur with 17, Nalbari with 2 and Dibrugarh with 1.

However, as many as 949 sars have already been surveyed in the State, including 354 in Dhubri district alone. Of late, Dispur has decided to survey the remaining sars so as to issue land pattas to the indigenous people of the State in accordance with its 1989 land policy.

Meanwhile, AIUDF MLA Aminul Islam said: “The suspicion over the nationalities of people residing in sars has to be erased and the genuine Indian citizens should be given land pattas. Sars in Assam have a role to play in the agrarian economy of the State.”

The AIUDF MLA, however, rues the fact that Dispur does not have a clear-cut statistics on the number of sars in the State. “I did raise the issue on the floor of the State Assembly for several years only to get different figures (number of sars) each time. The fact remains that many sars in the State have not been named as yet. Dispur should find out the exact number of sars in the State,” he said.