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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Students protest eviction

Students protest eviction

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published Published on Nov 8, 2010   modified Modified on Nov 8, 2010

Two Adivasi student organisations today burnt the effigies of Assam water resources minister Prithvi Majhi, Lok Sabha MP Joseph Toppo and Rajya Sabha MP Silvius Condopan, all hailing from their community, in protest against the trio’s “silence” over the eviction drive at Ripu-Chirang reserve forest.

The All Adivasi Students Association of Assam and the All Santhali Students Union alleged that the leaders were indifferent to the plight of the community. They said this was evident from their silence on the eviction drive carried out by the Bodo Territorial Council forest department inside the Ripu-Chirang elephant reserve in Kokrajhar district.

They demanded a complete halt to the eviction drive.

Leaders from Jharkand, including former Jharkand chief minister Babulal Marandi and MP Ram Dayal Munda, had visited the area on Thursday and had expressed solidarity towards the evicted Adivasi people.

The visit has been condemned by Bodo leaders, including those of Bodoland Peoples Front (BPF), a partner in the Congress-led ruling coalition in Assam, as an attempt to create communal tension by instigating the Adivasis to encroach upon forest and inside the reserve forest.

Lok Sabha MP from Kokrajhar S.K. Bwiswmuthiary expressed apprehension that the visit of Jharkhand leaders including former chief minister Babulal Marandi could encourage the “birth and growth of Maoism in Bodoland forests, especially in Ripu-Chirang reserve forest, against which the state should stay alert”.

The forest department has evicted 2,000 persons, belonging to Adivasi, Bodo, Rajbongshi, Rabha and Nepali communities, since the eviction drive was launched on October 30.

Officials of the department said the process of encroachment starts with felling of trees which leaves the forests barren. The department has been trying to save the forest wealth but the efforts are yet to yield results.

Massive encroachment and felling of trees continues unabated deep inside the Saralpara and Ultapani areas along the Indo-Bhutan border and the Lumsung, Laothi, Laopani and Khungring areas under Holtugaon forest division of Ripu-Chirang, despite the department’s efforts to evict the encroachers. Large-scale felling of trees and encroachment in the last three years has threatened the very existence of the reserve forest.

According to official records, over 30 per cent of the forest land has been encroached upon. Unofficial sources said the encroachment could be much higher — around 60 to 70 per cent — as encroachment was taking place deep inside the reserve forest where department officials could hardly reach.


The Telegraph, 9 November, 2010, http://www.telegraphindia.com/1101109/jsp/northeast/story_13152100.jsp


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