GUWAHATI, June 22 � Voluntary organisation Save Guwahati Build Guwahati (SGBG) has described the death of three persons during the agitational programme launched by the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti (KMSS) here today in support of its demand for land rights to the 'landless indigenous people settling on the Government land, including hills and wetlands of the city,� as unfortunate.
Speaking to this newspaper, SGBG president Dhiren Barua said that violence can solve no problem. He demanded that KMSS secretary Akhil Gogoi should assume the responsibility for the situation arising out of the organisation�s agitation at Dispur today.
�Akhil Gogoi has totally failed to lead the agitation peacefully and has resorted to violence. The purpose of the agitation would be defeated if violence is allowed to dominate it,� said Barua.
However, the problem of encroachment on the hills and other government land of the city is to be looked into with a humanitarian approach and this should be solved through negotiation. A solution to the problem could be hammered out amicably and the Government should come forward to settle the issue with an open mind, said the SGBG president.
He further said that silence on the part of the Government on this issue would make the settlers more apprehensive and reminded the Government that the late Hiteswar Saikia during his tenure as the Chief Minister of the State arranged for the pattas of 15,000 families settling on the city hills and assured settlement to the rest of such families in phased manners after thoroughly examining their cases.
Late Saikia had announced that only the landless people would be treated as the eligible ones for the purpose, Barua said.
But after about one and half a decade, the process initiated by late Saikia�s government has not been resumed and this has made the settlers on the government land suspicious of the motive of the Government.
Therefore, to remove the doubts of these people, the Government should expeditiously spell out a policy for these people. However, in doing so, the problems being created by settlement in the hills etc for the people living in plains should also be taken into consideration, Barua said.
