Dibrugarh

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday urged citizens to build strong, community-driven resistance to protect the state’s land and resources.

Sarma appealed to people to socially and economically isolate those accused of occupying government land illegally. “We should ensure they do not enter. And where they have already settled in parts of Upper Assam, we will remove them just as we did in Uriamghat,” he told reporters.

The reference was to the large-scale eviction operation conducted by the state government in August at the Rengma Reserve Forest in Uriamghat on the Assam–Nagaland border. Nearly 11,000 bighas — about 1,500 hectares — were cleared of encroachments during that drive, affecting roughly 1,800 families, most of whom belonged to the Muslim community.

Sarma said such actions would be difficult if locals continued to provide accommodation or employment to encroachers. “If people rent out houses or give them shelter, eviction becomes impossible,” he said.

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He added that securing Assam was not the government’s responsibility alone. House owners, employers, and farmers must also play a role by refusing to offer shelter, jobs, or agricultural work to unknown outsiders, he said, calling for collective vigilance without explicitly naming any group.