“Bulldozer Over Paddy Seedlings”—Lakhimpur Girl Describes The Eviction

A lush green field with its young paddy seedlings swaying gently in the breeze — a symbol of hope and hard-earned dreams. Suddenly, a JCB roars in, bringing with it the inevitable wrath that crushes not just crops, but the aspirations of the farmers who nurtured them. This scenario videoed by a young woman, Gungun Chetia captured the attention of people of Assam, which apparently went viral.  Gungun is a resident of the Phukanhat Milon Nagar area in Lakhimpur district where the eviction took place today. 

This bleak situation describes the large scale eviction drive Assam. As continuation of the eviction spree in the state, Lakhimpur has become the latest spot. Since today morning, tensed situation engulfed the areas of Phukanhat, Christan, Debera Doloni etc. 

The administration carried the eviction drive in VGR (Village Grazing Reserve) spanning 288 bighas of land that it alleges to have been occupied illegally by the evictees. Eviction of 218 families took place in this huge swathe of land. 

‘Didn’t Even Spare Our Paddy Seedlings’:

Gungun Chetia narrated Pratidin Time about the turns of events that ended in losing their paddies for the year. “The notice of eviction was served just four days back. There are families whose houses are demolished although ours were spared. It was not possible to pack up a home within four days. Our villagers urged the administration to give more time, but in vein.’

“Our paddy seedlings did not do any harm they would have been transplanted anyways within few days. The administration gave early hint that our paddies may be spared. We uprooted some of them yesterday, but it was impossible to uproot all of them in a day.”

Describing what happened today, she said—‘the eviction started early in the morning, by 5 AM. When I captured the video of the JCB (bulldozer) that rushed into the paddy seedlings, few of the villagers gathered there. We tried to vetoed it from destroying the field. The police were also sympathetic but the JCB driver appeared more aggressive.’

Did the ADC Say Something?

Adding further to it, Chetia told Pratidin Time that the ADC and SP came in to the spot and after a brief discussion amongst themselves they asked the bulldozer to come out of the field. 

“Seeing this, we went to have our lunch. During that time window, the JCB revisited and to our utter disgrace we discovered all the seedlings destroyed by it. The JCB stealthily destroyed our hopes and earnings for the year within moments”—she told.

This has sparked suspects amongst the villagers whether withdrawing the JCB briefly was a mean to drive them out of the spot.

“Since Our Grandfather….”

Gungun’s younger brother Manas Jyoti Chetia told Pratidin Time that the space where the administration bulldozed their seedlings have been used since the time of his grandfather. “It should not be less than a century that our ancestors started ploughing the land and sowing the dreams”—Manas told us. 
Probably, the ancestors of the Chetia family didn’t care much to get the plot of land registered in their names, Gungun Chetia believes.

She also apprised us that this year they sowed the paddy seds a bit later as their grandmother passed away recently. “We could initiate the process after 13 days of her demise, otherwise the seedlings would have been transplanted yet. We won’t have anything to harvest this year”—Gungun sighed. 

Who Have Been Evicted?

Evictions in Assam are often contested and Lakhimpur is no different. Amongst the 218 evicted families, majority are the east Bengal origin Muslims. However, there are around 25 families of indigenous communities including Muslims. At phukanhat Milon Nagar area, around 5 indigenous families house have been demolished.

Lakhi Gogoi, an Assam based VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) leader told Pratidin Time that the administration should have spared the indigenous families. “They were those who have been living for very long and some of them migrated to this place from other parts of Assam after flood devastated them.”—he said.

Gungun Chetia, speaking on this added—“We have seen the Muslims since our childhood. We have no idea when they came to this place. As they stay at distance from our house, we have  not faced any problems from them.”

Land Patta of 1930?

The villagers however shared with Pratidin Time that there are houses on the other side of Phukan Hat Milon Nagar that have been spared. These, as they told us belong to the East  Bangal origin Muslims. 

“We have been told by Latmandal that they are not evicted as they possess land patta of 1930”—said some villagers. However, whether it is a hearsay or is a fact remains to be verified.

ALSO READ: 93 Homes Demolished in Major Eviction Drive in Assam's Nalbari