GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said his government would undertake a mission to reclaim the ‘chars’ — sandbars or river ‘islands’ — from encroachers to safeguard the “ecological integrity” of the Brahmaputra Valley.
He also said the government would start establishing heritage belts and blocks encompassing religious and historic sites where non-indigenous people would not be allowed to acquire land toward making “Assam safe for the coming generations”.
“We will start Mission Basundhara 4.0 to reclaim land in the char areas. We will conduct a survey of these chars and carry out eviction,” the Chief Minister said, launching Mission Basundhara 3.0, a flagship scheme to ensure land rights for landless indigenous people of the State.
There are more than 3,500 chars on a network of rivers dominated by the Brahmaputra in Assam. Most of these chars, allegedly without proper regulation, are inhabited and cultivated by Bengali Muslims, often viewed as “illegal immigrants” or “Bangladeshi”.
Eco balance
Mr. Sarma said under Mission Basundhara 4.0, chars of permanent nature would be identified for reclamation toward limiting land acquisition and promoting sustainable land management practices. “The idea is to uphold the delicate ecological balance while addressing the pressing issue of landlessness in Assam,” he added.
“In cases of extensive landholdings, excess land will be reclaimed by the government for public use with a focus on preserving the ecological balance and integrity of the Brahmaputra basin,” he said.
The Chief Minister defended the government’s move to establish heritage belts and blocks, similar to the tribal belts and blocks introduced during British rule to insulate such lands from settlers.
“Majuli, Narayanpur, Barpeta, and Batadrava will be considered heritage belts and blocks to start with. We have to make Assam safe for the coming generations,” he said.
These places are associated with major satras or Vaishnav monasteries established by 15th-16th century saint-reformer Srimanta Sankaradeva and his disciples. One of the ruling BJP’s election promises is to free large swathes of land belonging to such monasteries from encroachers of “suspect nationality”.
‘Land acquisition made easy’
The Chief Minister said his government tried to make it easy for the indigenous people to secure land deeds by launching Mission Basundhara 1.0 two years ago.
“We received 8 lakh applications under the first phase of the scheme launched with 10 services offered by the Revenue Department. Many indigenous people were left landless as they could not produce documents dating back to three generations of their families to prove their eligibility,” he said.
He said about 2.3 lakh out of 13 lakh applicants were granted land pattas under Mission Basundhara 2.0 which ended on February 16.
“Many Adivasis faced difficulties due to some strictness in implementing the second phase of the scheme. Mission Basundhara 2.0 will cover all tea garden workers [Adivasis] and the Gurkha community, who along with the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will be exempted from producing documents of three previous generations,” he said.
The Adivasis are a major chunk of voters in Assam. Once loyal to the Congress, they are said to have gravitated to the BJP over the past two decades. The sizeable Gurkha, SC, and ST communities are also seen as pro-BJP.
