Assam government, Karbi council to approach Gauhati HC to reslove grazing grounds issue
GUWAHATI: The Assam government, the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC) and the representatives of Karbi community will jointly approach the Gauhati High Court to resolve issues pertaining to village grazing grounds (VGRs) and professional grazing grounds (PGRs) in the councils areas. Emerging from a meeting with the KAAC and the Karbi leaders, Sarma said, The council will file an affidavit before the court by January 5. The Karbi representatives will also file an affidavit. We have decided to jointly move the Gauhati High Court so that the entire issue of VGRs and PGRs can be resolved immediately. The meeting comes amid tensions in the Kheroni area of West Karbi Anglong district following violence over the demand by the Karbis to evict outsiders from VGRs and PGRs. Sarma said the state government would request the court to quickly deliver the judgement in the sensitive case so that the KAAC and the government could take steps accordingly. Last year, the KAAC administration served eviction notices on the illegal settlers but they moved the court challenging the notices. Later, the court issued an interim stay on eviction. There are 8,000 bighas of land in the Kheroni VGRs and PGRs. We will shift the government offices, which are inside VGRs and PGRs, to other locations. The council will fence the entire area and take up a plantation drive to prevent encroachment in the future, the chief minister said. He further stated that the KAAC administration would cancel all trade licences issued in VGRs and PGRs and evict people who encroached upon the land of various departments outside VGRs and PGRs. During the violence at Kheroni, a youth from the Karbi community was killed in police firing while a non-tribal differently abled man was charred to death. Sarma announced that the family of the slain tribal will get a job in the council while a compensation of Rs 10 lakh will be given by the state government. Earlier, the KAAC administration had announced Rs 5 lakh compensation for the families of the two deceased persons. As our objective is to restore peace, the police will pursue the case in which one person was charred to death. We will give general amnesty in rest of the cases so that there is no misunderstanding among us, Sarma said. The second round of the governments discussion with the council and the Karbi representatives will be held on January 16 or 17. We hope that we will get some direction from the court by then, the chief minister said.
10 C
