Silchar Municipality Board’s Bulldozer Demolishes Property on Kalimohan Road Allegedly Without Prior Notice; Committee Submits Memorandum to DC in Protest

Officials of the Kalimohan Road Durga Puja Committee vehemently protested the incident where the Silchar Municipality Board’s bulldozers were deployed on their land allegedly without any prior notice of eviction. On Monday, a delegation from the Durga Puja Committee submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Cachar in protest.

According to committee official Abhik Das, on July 26, two magistrates accompanied by police forces arrived and used a bulldozer to demolish the committee’s permanent wall, pillars, and entrance gate. He mentioned that some officials from the Silchar Municipal Board, aided by land grabbers and local land mafias, unlawfully demolished the boundary wall, pillars, and iron entrance gate. Despite this, no prior notice of eviction was given. Furthermore, a team of workers was deployed on the land to construct a public toilet the following day.

The committee has been organizing Durga Puja, Kali Puja, and other social activities on this land for the past 40 years. The land was previously unused until they began celebrating Durga Puja there in 1990. On Monday, committee officials said, “On behalf of the Kalimohan Road Durga Puja Committee and Kalimohan Road Mahila Kali Puja Committee, we have come to present this memorandum to the District Commissioner but since he is out of office, we presented it to the DDC. This plot of land has been with the committee since 1990; we have filled this land and made it fit for use. Earlier, it was a garbage pond, the entire bazaar’s waste was dumped in this pond which led to constant foul smell in the area. With landfilling and soil, we prepared this land for our Durga Puja”.

“But all of a sudden on July 26”, they further mentioned and said, “two magistrates went to the area along with bulldozer and excavator trucks to cause damage to our permanent barricade and pillars. Without providing any notice to our committee, the Municipal Board has caused damage to our land. A few days later some construction workers went to the land and started building toilets over the land where we worship Durga and Kali every year”.

“This move is politically motivated; since 2019, there have been no problems with this land but now all of a sudden the administration has decided to evict this land from our Durga Puja Committee. This is purely influenced by politics”, added another official. In 2019, then-Congress leader Sushmita Dev lost the Lok Sabha elections to Dr Rajdeep Roy of the BJP.

The committee officials also mentioned that they have fulfilled all the formalities the Municipality has asked so far for the committee to keep hold of the land, including leasing the land from the board.

The committee also mentioned that this eviction and demolition violated the Gauhati High Court’s PIL Order Number 63, dated May 29, 2023. This PIL allowed the committee to continue the annual Durga Puja on that 5 kathas and 5 chatak plot of land. The committee intends to continue celebrating Durga Puja on this land in the future. The committee warned of a larger movement if their demands were not met. Present at the event were Babu Dutta, Diman Dutta, Basudev Bhattacharya, Goura Kar, and other members.