NHRC notice to assam govt on eviction drive

DIBRUGARH, June 25? A local association here, Youth Leadership Centre, has petitioned the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) against the modus operandi of the ongoing eviction drives in the State, which began more than a month ago at Batahghooli in Guwahati. Taking cognisance of the petition, the NHRC has sent notices to the Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police of Assam, asking both the authorities to make the government stand clear on the issue. Dr Nabajyoti Hazarika, a cardio-thoracic surgeon at the Assam Medical College here and president of the voluntary Youth Leadership Centre, said his association had despatched investigating teams to have a first hand information on the eviction drives in various parts of the State. He said his teams ?found to their horror the utter lack of humaneness in the course of the drives by the police and forest staff,? and that these have been brought under documentation. On the basis of this documentation, complaints were sent out to the President, the Prime Minister and the NHRC.

Dr Hazarika says that the government has ?just not bothered to take up humanitarian rehabilitation measures for the victims of the eviction drives.? He sees in this a gross violation of basic human rights for bonafide Indian citizens. ?We cannot allow Assam to be a place where genuine citizens are bounded out of their homes while illegal foreigners continue to be immune from eviction and other punitive action,? he said, pointing to the massive colonisation of river chars and forested areas by people who are generally believed to be illegal foreigners from Bangladesh. The Assam unit of the All India Students? Federation (AISF) have warned bus owners not to resort to any fare hike, saying the existing fares are high enough. Meanwhile, bus owners in upper Assam have already levied a surcharge of 5 paise per kilometre to the existing fare chart. Currently, the bus fares are calculated at the rate of 35 paise per kilometre. An AISF press note said the bus owners spend not more the 18 per cent of the total expenditure on fuel. ?Hence, there cannot be any justification in unilaterally increasing the fares by resorting to the excuse of slightly higher diesel prices,? the note said.