GUWAHATI:
In view of the suicide of an entrepreneur and the land grabbing case surrounding his death, the Assam government has constituted a three-member committee headed by additional chief secretary Paban Barthakur to probe into the matter.
The committee will enquire about the Assam Don Bosco University (ABDU) land grabbing matter under Sonapur Revenue Circle in Kamrup Metro district.
The other members of the committee are GD Tripathy, commissioner and secretary, revenue and Pallav Gopal Jha, deputy commissioner, Kamrup Metro.
The committee will enquire whether the allegations are true and in the event of so, the committee will suggest means to recover the land.
It has been alleged that the Assam Don Bosco University has encroached on more than 800 bighas of land of Amchang Wild Life Sanctuary for setting up various projects of the varsity. The varsity also blocked the elephant corridor by constructing various buildings on the campus.
In the drone survey, the state forest department has found some anomalies of the boundary of the university which was said to be more than the land allotted to the university.
The state forest department has also lodged an FIR with Sonapur police station against the ADBU authorities for alleged hill cutting and construction of certain dam covering an area of 384 sq metres blocking the natural water channel originating from Amchang Wild Life Sanctuary.
“The university authority has failed to produce any permission from the government authority to cause the destruction inside the Eco-Sensitive Zone of the Wild Life Sanctuary,” said Prangaal Baruah, Range Officer, Guwahati Forest Range, in the FIR.
The forest department also seized earth amounting to 3,840 sq metres from the university campus, the FIR which was lodged on May 7, added.