Assam Government extends Xatra panel's term

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The State Government extended the term of the Xatra Commission (Commission for Review and Assessment of Problems of Satra Land in Assam) by a year with effect from January 1-December 31, 2023.

In this regard, the Revenue and Disaster Management Department issued a fresh notification after approval from Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

The State government formed the three-member Xatra Commission headed by AGP MLA Pradip Hazarika on December 28, 2021, with a one-year term. The other two members of the panel are BJP MLAs Rupak Sarma and Mrinal Saikia. The Government asked the Xatra Commission to study the landed property of xatras, their lands under encroachment and lands available with each of the xatras. Gauzing the enormity of the problem of xatra lands that needs field verification in almost all districts, the State government extended the commission's term by another year.

Talking to The Sentinel, Xatra Commission chairman Pradip Hazarika said, "We have already submitted the interim report to the Chief Minister. We tried our best to cover as many districts as possible in the interim report. Some districts like Barpeta and Nagaon have many problems. They need more visits. The Government has given us another year. We will visit the districts which we did not visit earlier. We will try our best to submit the final report as soon as possible."

The Xatra Commission submitted its interim report on December 2, 2022, mentioning that around 7,504 bighas of land belonging to 303 xatras of the state are under encroachment.

According to the interim report submitted to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the highest quantum of encroachment of xatra land is in the Barpeta district, followed by Lakhimpur, Nagaon, Bongaigaon and Dhubri districts.

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