6,000 evicted voters in Hojai await settlement, threaten poll boycott

Nagaon: Over 6,000 electors evicted from the Lutumari Reserve Forest last Nov — currently enrolled in the Hojai assembly constituency — have warned they will boycott the April 9 polls unless land is allotted to them beforehand.

More than 1,200 Bengali-speaking Muslim families were evicted by the Nagaon district administration for allegedly occupying nearly 6,000 bighas (approximately 800 hectares) of the Lutumari Reserved Forest. According to officials, the forest was notified over a century ago, but the families had been living there for decades.

Since the eviction, the electors have been living in makeshift tarpaulin shelters along a village road at Chankhula, under the Kampur revenue circle and Barhampur assembly constituency. Chankhula lies about 8 km from the eviction site.

Abdul Hameed (115) said most families had settled in No.-2 Majgaon inside the Lutumari Reserve Forest in 1983 fleeing their earlier homes in Barpeta district, Morigaon, and parts of Nagaon district to escape the violence during the six-year anti-foreigner movement (1979–85). “Over the years, people sold off their earlier land holdings, whoever had them. As a result, none of the evicted families owns land elsewhere in the state,” he added.

The centenarian, however, was a resident of Kaliabor, located more than 100km from the eviction site, before settling in No.-2 Majgaon.

Rashid Ali, 47, recalled moving from Barpeta to No.-2 Majgaon as a 5-6 years old child to escape the Assam Movement violence. “We have land revenue receipts dating back to 2006-07, after the revenue department allowed us to pay revenue. Around 800 families lived in 2 No. Majgaon. Of them, nearly 200 families are now surviving in makeshift shelters at Chankhula, while others have dispersed to nearby areas or migrated elsewhere,” he said.

The district administration carried out the eviction drive in No.-2 Majgaon, stating that the area falls under Longjap gaon panchayat and is a revenue village under Barhampur constituency after the 2023 delimitation. “However, we are enrolled in Hojai constituency. Unfortunately, no political party has come forward to listen to our story. We have been left on the streets to die like cockroaches,” Ali added.

He added that over 300 children from the evicted families have not attended school since the eviction, as both the venture school and government school at the site were shut down and their materials destroyed. The forest department now occupies those buildings.

“Our primary demand is settlement. They evicted us, saying it was forest land — we have no objection. But allot us land so families, including the elderly and children, can live with dignity. This must be done before polling on April 9, otherwise we will never get any settlement,” Ali said.

Md Nuruddin, 43, said families were forced to sell cattle and poultry at throwaway prices after the eviction. “A cow that fetched Rs 40,000 earlier sold for Rs 20,000. We had no choice,” he said, urging authorities to resolve their displacement issue at the earliest.
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