The Assam government’s drive to evict alleged encroachers from a land in Nagaon district, which belonged to the state, was completed on Tuesday, amid demands for compensation by many who claimed that they were rightful owners.

The drive, billed as the largest in terms of number of people affected, began on Monday morning amid tight security and concluded during the day, with over 5,000 “encroachers” having lost their homes.

A senior police officer said more than 1,200 bighas of land were cleared in four villages of Dhing revenue circle area by a posse of 600 security personnel.

No untoward incident was reported and people largely cooperated with us, Nagaon Superintendent of Police Leena Doley said, adding that more than 80 per cent of the people dismantled their houses, shops and other structures “on their own”.

The drive comes over a year after a similar large-scale eviction exercise in September 2021 in nearby Darrang district had resulted in violence and police firing. Two people were killed in the clashes and over 20 suffered injuries. In between, a number of small and big eviction drives were carried out by the state government.

Nearly 1,000 families have lost homes in the wake of the Nagaon drive, with many taking shelter on the roads, official sources said.

Over 50 bulldozers were used for the exercise, they said.

The land, which was cleared in Nagaon, is located near the birthplace of Vaishnava saint Sankardeva, and is considered semi-sacred by most Assamese. This, political analysts said, has resulted in little or no opposition to the move by either political parties or rights groups.

Several displaced people have demanded that they be given a rehabilitation package.

District officials said that notices were served on them at least two months ago, a claim that was rebuffed some of the locals.

Gopal Kalita, one of those evicted from Balisatra area, said that he was a resident of the locality since 1971, and had received no notice regarding eviction.

“Our home was razed to the ground and we were given no time to take out most of our belongings. We spent the night on the premises of a hospital. I appeal to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma to make arrangements for our rehabilitation,” he said.

Another local, Dharma Bora, claimed that original Assamese inhabitants should at least be given adequate compensation.

A resident of Haidubi in Nagaon, Motibur Rahman said that he was born here, and have always seen people living in harmony, no matter which community they belonged to, but the anti-encroachment drive has now sparked tension in the area.

Sixty two-year old woman Nitumoni said she was yet to come to terms with the fact that her home, where she had lived for the past 50 years, was gone in a matter of a few minutes.

A Nagaon district official said that most of the evicted persons have moved to the homes of relatives in nearby villages.

He also said that all possible help for their relocation would be rendered to them.

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Eviction drive begins in Assam’s Nagaon amid tight security

Assam Congress Legislature Party leader Debabrata Saikia, meanwhile, said that he has constituted a 13-member fact-finding delegation, which would be meeting officials to find out the status of the relief distribution work being undertaken for the displaced.

Heavy security arrangements were made for the drive with senior police officers camping in the area since 13 December.

Clearing encroachments, particularly from the Sattra land here, was one of BJP’s major poll issue in the last assembly election.

Nagaon deputy commissioner had earlier issued a notice stating that the Dhing indoor stadium would serve as temporary place of detention for those who resisted the eviction.