Guwahati, Aug 21 (PTI) Dismissing reports of attempted encroachment by Naga people at recently evicted land in Golaghat district, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday said the Nagaland government will join a massive plantation drive in the area later this week.
Addressing a press conference after a cabinet meeting here, Sarma said he has spoken to Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio about the reports of attempted occupation at Rengma Reserve Forest, where a massive eviction took place recently to clear encroachments from 11,000 bighas (nearly 1,500 hectares) of land.
“There is no encroachment by the Naga people. In fact, Rio will join hands with us for the plantation drive. We aim to plant saplings in 12,000 bighas of land at Rengma. This is going to be a significant step from an ecological point of view,” the Assam CM said.
He told reporters that the Cabinet has expressed its thanks to the Government of Nagaland, and the Environment and Forest Department of Assam for carrying out successfully the eviction drive and freeing the land from the alleged encroachers in the Rengma Reserve Forest of Uriamghat.
Sarma also claimed that the evicted people, who had settled there going from different districts, have submitted an application before the Election Commision requesting to keep their voting rights in Uriamghat itself.
“The present time is a crisis period for us. We have been discussing land issues so far. Please go and check this year’s admission list of medical students. It clearly shows that power is shifting from Assamese people,” he said, in an apparent hint towards Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Sarma said that usually ‘soft power’ lies with the indigenous people of a state and gave examples of Karnataka and Maharashtra, where the power lies with Kannada and Marathi people, respectively.
When asked what he meant by ‘soft power’, the CM said: “education, culture, sports — everything falls under soft power… If we lose education, we will also lose jobs. We are opening medical colleges and institutes, but Assamese students are not coming.” Stressing that he cannot dislike anyone because of this trend, but he lamented that Assamese people are gradually going away from competition.
“It is a matter of concern. Our students are not able to succeed in examinations. They have to study hard and compete, and develop the human resources,” he added.
Sarma said that now a new IIM will come to Guwahati and an Assamese may win the contract to build the infrastructure, but all his workforce will be “someone else”.
“The entire economy is shifting. This is happening in Barak valley too, where the economy is shifting from Bengali people. The Assamese people will be complete losers if this continues,” he added. PTI TR NN
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.