Affected families of the Silsako eviction drive held massive protests at Chachal in Guwahati against the state government on Wednesday. Donning black badges, hundreds of people who were the victims of the eviction at Silsako Beel observed black day on the occasion of Himanta Biswa Sarma-led BJP government’s completion of two years at the office. The protestors have demanded their lands back and also the creation of jobs for.

Meanwhile, agitators claimed to intensify their protest if the government does not fulfill their demands.

One of the protestors said, “We will not allow any kind of government projects to be set up at Silsako. When our lands were evicted, CM Sarma guaranteed that all evicted families would be provided with compensation and rehabilitated. However, we have not received any response from the government. When the entire state was gripped with the festivities of Bohag Bihu, we were launching a hunger strike here to get back our lands. But, the government has till today turned a deaf ear to our sufferings. Therefore we have announced Assam BJP’s foundation day as ‘Black Day’ to protest against the government.”

“We want the government to look into the matter and provide us compensation. We pledge to sit in protests and further intensify them till all our demands are met. We will not leave our lands and let it go the hands of any outsider. We also demand eviction to be stopped as soon as possible. It is actually a matter of shame that we are forced to stage protest on the government’s foundation day," said another protestor.

Meanwhile, Assam’s Housing & Urban Affairs and Irrigation Minister Ashok Singhal inaugurated the bioremediation process of Silsako Beel and demonstration of diversion of Bahini River to Silsako Beel. The project aims at diverting the waters of the Bahini River to Silsako.