Over 1,000 freight vehicles transport Uriamghat evacuees ahead of eviction

Jorhat, July 25: The proposed eviction drive in Uriamghat has prompted a mass exodus of alleged encroachers, with over 1,000 freight vehicles leaving the area under the jurisdiction of Uriamghat police station.

Sources reveal that many of the evacuees are returning to districts like Nagaon, Morigaon, Hojai, and Sonitpur. Local reports suggest that small freight vehicles are charging between Rs 8,000 and Rs 12,000 for transportation, while larger trucks demand anywhere from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000, leading to estimated profits of crores for local transport operators.

Sarupathar MLA Biswajit Phukan, on Thursday, confirmed that many alleged encroachers vacated the area after receiving eviction notices from the Forest Department.

“We want the eviction to be peaceful, and very soon we plan to begin restoring the Rengma forest,” he stated.

He also noted that the Forest Department has completed surveys over approximately 11,000 bighas of land.

The evictions have triggered movement of alleged encroachers to other parts of Assam, including Lahorighat and Dhing in Nagaon and Korigaon in Golaghat district.

Meanwhile, Abhijeet Chutia, President of the Sarupathar unit of the All Assam Chutia Students’ Union, raised concerns on Wednesday over possible syndicates facilitating shelter for the evacuees and urged authorities to probe potential resettlement rackets.

The neighbouring states have taken notice. The governments of Nagaland, Meghalaya, and Manipur have directed their respective Deputy Commissioners to remain vigilant to prevent any influx of illegal migrants from Assam.

The Meghalaya government linked the advisory directly to Assam’s eviction drive.

The circular stated, “In view of the ongoing eviction drive against illegal immigrants undertaken by the Government of Assam and to prevent possible influx of the displaced individuals to the state as a consequence, all deputy commissioners are hereby directed to keep vigilant and take necessary measures to ensure the potential influx is kept in check and law and order is maintained.”

While Manipur did not explicitly cite the Assam evictions in its advisory, it issued an advisory urging monitoring of unusual inter-state movement.

The memorandum directed that - "If any such movement is detected, it should be immediately reported and biographic and biometric details of such persons be captured mandatorily."

The Manipur government further stated that such individuals must be housed in secured designated locations for shelter and humanitarian support, without allowing them to integrate with the local population; adding that all such migrants shall be deported after following due procedures.