Eviction drive in Baghabazar, Cachar leave 14 families homeless as govt sanctions same plot to build market

“Either shoot us or let us stay here”, at least 14 families became homeless today in Dholai’s Baghabazar area. In an eviction drive carried on by the Cachar District Administration and the Officers of Sonai Revenue Circle, 14 houses were demolished. The settlement beside the vegetable market in Baghabazar had around 14 families which had their houses by a public pond. The land has now been acquired by the government for building a World Bank sponsored market shed. The cries, requests and prayers of these 14 families in front of the officers didn’t stop machines from demolishing their houses. 

According to the available information, the land which had these houses were “khash jomi” (Government-owned fallow land) but the residents of the area says, they have the papers for these land they acquired including jamabandi and patta receipt. According to the people there, they were asked to show the paper for their land in the circle office, which they accordingly did, but didn’t receive any reply from the office and they came for demolishing their houses without sufficient notice or time period to vacate their home. Many had their pucca concrete houses built there and many also received sanctions from Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. At least four families also had settlement papers from the Narsinghpur Circle Office.

This land has been sanctioned for building a market shed which has been sponsored by the World Bank and that is why the eviction drive took place today in the presence of Sonai Circle Officer, Dipankar Nath, Vikas Chhetri, Narsingpur Development Block Officer Jatrakant Karmakar, officers from Dholai Thana, including women police officers and CRPF jawans. Two excavators reached the spot in the morning and demolished everything there, including houses, property and even trees grown by them.

A resident of the area, Manjil Ahmed Laskar who filed an FIR about the land of Baghabajar area said, “In 2016 in reply to the RTI I found 14 bigha and 12 Katha land which belongs to the government and accordingly I applied for a settlement at the circle office. The circle office gave me the settlement after paying thirty thousand rupees as security and since then I’m paying eighteen hundred rupees as revenue every year. I have all the receipts for those transactions”

He further said, “A few days back when we were called and asked to produce all the land-related documents, I did and they kept all the papers. Two days back, people from the circle office came and marked the land and asked us to vacate the land with notice from the Anchalik Panchayat. I refuted and said I won’t unless I got any order from the circle office or revenue office. Today morning they came in with JCBs and demolished all our houses without giving us sufficient time or notice period to vacate our home. There are many wealthy families and businesses living in the 14 bigha government land, but why are their homes unharmed and we the poor have to suffer”. The helpless men and women saw their houses being demolished by heavy machinery with their kids and elders without any shelter over their heads for the night or the days to follow.