Guwahati, March 20 (IANS) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Thursday that the state government has taken a mass plantation initiative in the last five years and plantations were done that take account for more than 200 square kilometre which is bigger than the area of Guwahati city.
CM Sarma said, “Assam is scripting a success story in environment conservation. In the last five years, we have undertaken tree plantations in more than 200 sq. km — as big as Guwahati city.”
The CM has given priority in freeing up land from encroachment for the last four years.
According to CM Sarma, a forest area of 100 sq. km was freed up — an area as big as Chandigarh from encroachment.
The state administration has undertaken several anti-enroachment drives since Himanta Biswa Sarma became the Chief Minister of the state.
The Opposition has also alleged that CM Sarma has politicised the encroachment and the minorities were targeted in the anti-encroachment drives.
Earlier, in September last year, in the Sonapur area of the Kamrup district, a routine anti-encroachment drive descended into violence.
A violent clash broke out between the local police and the residents when the police attempted to remove what they believed to be unlawful colonies on a 100-bigha tract of land that housed nearly 150 people, resulting in the deaths of two residents and injury to several others.
Juwahid Ali and Haider Ali were identified as the two deceased victims.
Both the persons were pronounced dead at the Sonapur District Hospital after suffering injuries that were allegedly caused by police shooting.
In addition to the deaths, the violence caused a number of injuries, one of which was to Shahjahan Ali, who was shot in the leg.
During the clash, at least 22 policemen, including a woman Constable and Revenue Circle Officer Nitul Khatoniar got injured.
They were rushed to the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital to receive urgent treatment.
The encroachers reportedly threw rocks at the police and authorities on Thursday, the fourth day of the anti-encroachment drive, damaging and vandalising several police vehicles.
Witnesses said that they were also attacked with sticks and other dangerous objects.
According to them, the paramilitary and police personnel opened fire to bring the spot under control.
According to sources, there was little to no security presence during the first three days of the anti-encroachment campaign.
In a statement, the Assam Police said that 248 bigha (155 acres) of government land and 237 illegal buildings built in the tribal zone by unauthorised individuals have been cleared.
In September 2021, two people were killed and 15 policemen were injured when a clash broke out between alleged encroachers and the police during an anti-encroachment drive in Assam’s Gorukhuti village.
–IANS
tdr/khz
Disclaimer
The information contained in this website is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by BhaskarLive.in and while we endeavour to keep the information up to date and correct, we make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the website for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.
In no event will we be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage, or any loss or damage whatsoever arising from loss of data or profits arising out of, or in connection with, the use of this website.
Through this website you are able to link to other websites which are not under the control of BhaskarLive.in We have no control over the nature, content and availability of those sites. The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.
Every effort is made to keep the website up and running smoothly. However, BhaskarLive.in takes no responsibility for, and will not be liable for, the website being temporarily unavailable due to technical issues beyond our control.
For any legal details or query please visit original source link given with news or click on Go to Source.
Our translation service aims to offer the most accurate translation possible and we rarely experience any issues with news post. However, as the translation is carried out by third part tool there is a possibility for error to cause the occasional inaccuracy. We therefore require you to accept this disclaimer before confirming any translation news with us.
If you are not willing to accept this disclaimer then we recommend reading news post in its original language.
