Land Enroachment: Asom Sattra Mahasabha refutes Assam Government’s claims

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Asom Sattra Mahasabha — an umbrella organization of all the xattras of Assam — has dismissed the statistics on xattra land encroachment presented by the Assam government on March 2 during the ongoing Budget session.

As per the official data of the Revenue & Disaster Management department, the land encroached in four xattras is 121 bigha, 3 katha and 11 lecha at Sri Sri Chamaria Xattra in Kamrup district, Barpeta Xattra, Sri Sri Ramraikuti Xattra at Satrasal in Dhubri district, and Thakur Ata Xattra in Bongaigaon district. It showed the total land of Sri Sri Chamaria Xattra as 77 bigha, 1 katha and 5 lecha. Of this, the encroached land has been shown as 2 bigha, 1 katha and 7 lecha. Of the 1283 bigha and 1 lecha land of Barpeta Xattra, 113 bigha and 16 lecha is shown as being encroached. Of the total 30 bigha and 2 katha land of Sri Sri Ramraikuti xattra, the encroached area is 2 katha and 7 lecha. Of the total 58 bigha, 2 katha and 8 lecha land of Thakur Ata Xattra, the encroached area is 5 bigha, 4 katha and 1 lecha.

Dismissing the above data of the government, general Secretary of Asam Satra Mahasabha Kusum Kumar Mahanta told The Sentinel, “This is a baseless and misleading information. Neither the previous Congress government nor the present BJP-led coalition government is interested in finding put the actual xattra land that is under illegal occupation across the State. Both the governments have misled the Assam Assembly with totally wrong infomation on this important issue.”

The ASM GS added, “The Revenue & Disaster Management Department has been preparing their data based on only the reports of the respective Deputy Commissioners (DCs). Since the DCs and their subordinate staff related to the department do not carry out the land surveys properly, the House has been provided the faulty data. So, we have been demanding a survey of xattra land encroachment to be carried out by a joint team comprising department officials and ASM representatives.

According to ASM, there are 1,242 xattras in the State. The ASM’s survey in a few districts had found encroachment of 7000 bighas of xattra lands. Around 1900 bighas of land at Adi Alengi Xattra in Lakhimpur has been encroached upon,” Kusum Kumar Mahanta, general secretary of Asom Sattra Mahasabha.

Significantly, the official data does not mention any land encroachment of the Adi Alengi Xattra.

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