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Assam opposition leaders walk out of assembly over mass eviction drive
AIUDF members walked out of the House after speaker Biswajit Daimary rejected their adjournment motion on eviction drive carried out at Batadraba in Nagaon district a day earlier
The first day of the winter session of Assam assembly on Tuesday witnessed walkouts by the entire opposition members on the issue of eviction and encroachment of the state’s territory by Mizoram.
Soon after the question hour was over, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) members walked out of the House after speaker Biswajit Daimary rejected their adjournment motion on eviction drive carried out at Batadraba in Nagaon district a day earlier.
Also Read:Assam starts massive eviction drive around birthplace of Srimanta Sankardev
On Monday, in the largest eviction drive in the state, Nagaon district authorities had started removing encroachers and illegal structures from nearly 1000 bighas (approximately 330 acres) around Batadraba Than, birthplace of Srimanta Sankardev, the 15-16th century saint-scholar and socio-religious reformer.
The eviction was carried out after the Commission for Review and Assessment of Problems of Satra Lands in Assam (CRAPSLA) submitted its report earlier this month on encroachments in ‘satras’ (Vaishnavite monasteries founded by Srimanta Sankadev) across the state. The panel was set up last year.
“The eviction drive was carried out without allotting any alternate plots to people who have been residing in the area for many years. This shows the lack of empathy from the state government,” AIUDF MLA Mohammed Aminul Islam said.
The Congress, which had also sought an adjournment motion on the issue, also targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government of not providing alternate plots to the evicted persons according to norms laid down before shifting them from their respective homes.
Both the opposition parties decided to send separate fact-finding teams comprising MLAs and other senior leaders to Batadraba to take stock of the eviction drive and status of those displaced.
Congress MLAs, and the lone legislators from CPI (M) and Raijor Dal staged a walkout from the House after the speaker refused to allow discussion on the adjournment motion over Mizoram allegedly occupying a government school in Cachar district of Assam.
