GUWAHATI:
All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) supremo and Lok Sabha MP Maulana Badaruddin Ajmal on December 29 sought the intervention of President Droupadi Murmu to stop eviction drives in Assam in this chilly winter season and to make alternative arrangements for affected people.
In a letter to President Murmu, Ajmal alleged that the eviction drives launched by the state government in various parts of the state is “selective” and done “discriminately”.
“I would like to bring to your kind notice that the Assam government is carrying out eviction drives in the state even in this chilly winter period which is rendering thousands of poor people homeless and causing trouble to them. This inhuman action must be stopped immediately at least in this shivering cold season on humanity grounds and from the perspective of human rights,” Ajmal said in his letter.
“But the Assam government is carrying out eviction drives without making any rehabilitation plan and providing alternative places to the affected poor families consequently forcing them to live under the open sky. People are being evicted from places where they have been living for decades.
“The most objectionable point is that the eviction drive is initiated in a selective and discriminatory manner targeting one community. I, on behalf of my party AIUDF, would like to make it clear that we are not in favour of illegal encroachment on government land. We do not have any objection if illegal encroachers are evicted from government land whoever they are.
“But it is also an undeniable fact that Assam is the state where flood and erosion make thousands of people homeless and landless every year. They take shelter on government land because they do not have any other option. So, such poor affected families, who do not have any other place to live, must be rehabilitated after proper inquiry without any discrimination based on caste, creed and religion because it is the government’s responsibility to provide homes to the homeless and land to landless people of the state.
“I request you to direct the Assam government to stop inhuman eviction at least in the winter season, to provide land and financial help to the landless and homeless poor affected families without any discrimination before carrying out eviction and to stop selective manner and discriminately policy in eviction drive,” he added.