GUWAHATI (The Thursday Times) — The Gauhati High Court on Thursday ordered the Assam government to take immediate steps to rehabilitate, resettle, and compensate families displaced by eviction drives in three districts of the state.
The order covers families evicted from Hasila Beel in Goalpara district, Kachua in Nagaon district, and an area of Kamrup district. A division bench directed the state to file an affidavit by December 16 setting out how it plans to compensate and rehabilitate them.
The court also asked the government to consult the displaced families, hear their grievances, and consider rehabilitation and compensation through new schemes and plans.
Months in makeshift shelters
The Hasila Beel eviction, carried out over three days in June 2025, was one of the first in a series of large eviction drives by the state government. More than 600 families were affected, according to court records.
The district administration said at the time that the drive cleared illegal encroachments on government land. Residents said they had lived there since the 1950s and accused the authorities of targeting a minority community.
In February, the same court directed the state and the Goalpara district administration to provide drinking water, sanitation, rations, and medical care to the displaced, saying the right to life includes the right to live with dignity. Petitioners told the court that 556 families were sheltering on privately owned land after the eviction.
The Assam government has defended the drives as action against encroachment on government and forest land. There was no immediate response from the state government to Thursday’s order.
