Over 857,000 people encroaching 5,404 sq km of land, says Assam govt

Over 8.57 lakh encroachers are occupying more than 5,404 sq km of land across Assam, the state assembly was informed on Friday.

Of them, 2.12 lakh are landless people, 1.24 lakh are from the minority community and 31,839 are erosion-hit people.

In a written reply to a query by Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia, Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Jogen Mohan said a total of 8,57,060 people are living on government, forest, wetland, Satra and railway lands across the state.

Sharing a table, the minister said these people include at least 2,11,698 landless people, 31,839 erosion-affected, 1,03,422 from the economically weaker section, 68,981 Scheduled Castes, 77,616 Scheduled Tribes, 1,21,089 from the general category and 1,24,150 from the minority community.

The table further termed 1,18,265 people in Charaideo and Dhemaji as encroachers, but did not elaborate on their class, caste or community.

Mohan said these people have encroached more than 40,39,450 bighas (over 5,404