A for Amchang
#Day1 in #36daysofconflict
It started in August, 2017 when the Gauhati high court directed the state government to carry out evictions in Amchang on the 2nd of the month. A wildlife sanctuary near Guwahati city, Amchang was declared an eco-sensitive zone in June 2017, and it has since seen two phases of evictions of people. The court labelled them as ‘encroachers’ and residences of more than 300 households near the reserve were destroyed and people evicted after the order. The Wire.in reported that up to 700 families had been rendered homeless.
The residents of the villages near the reserve petitioned the courts for a stay order saying that they were being wrongly termed as encroachers. These were residents of revenue villages who were allowed to stay on these lands after having been initially displaced by the recurring Assam floods, in the 1990s decade. As a rehabilitative measure for the people who had lost their land, the government settled them near these villages in Amchang. But, in August, the state government went ahead to forcefully evict the families, nearly 23 years after the resettlement. The evictions then restarted in November 2017, where further households, schools, and even places of worship were demolished.
These were done during such a time when the children of the area had their final examinations and the older children had their board examinations. In Jonoximolu — one of the villages where evictions have taken place, 75 families were evicted which affected the education of another 150 school going children of the area.
Even though there has had been another stay order for the evictions to halt for two months — till February — the uncertainty of what will happen after this, has been a source of trauma for the people. It is a traumatic uncertainty because all the plundering and demolition has uptil now been, arbitrary.
As reported by Meher Jelkie (@hexagonsun70)
