Two killed in firing during protests against eviction in Assam

As some of the locals charged towards the police team with bamboo sticks and lethal weapons like machetes, the police resorted to firing, killing two of the protesting civilians. Police said that at least ten of the security force personnel also received injuries, some of them received serious injuries.

Mangaldai/Guwahati:An eviction drive by the civil administration turned violent in Assam's Darrang district on Wednesday leaving two civilians dead and over ten security personnel injured.

The incident took place at the Dhalpur area under the Sipajhar police station in Darrang district when a team of civil administration accompanied by the security forces went to clear illegal encroachments in the area. District administration officials said that about 77,420 bighas of government land had been under illegal encroachment for over two decades.

As the police and civil administration reached Dhalpur No 1 and Dhalpur No 2 areas, the locals protested and obstructed the team from proceeding to carry out the eviction drive. The locals numbering several hundreds gathered in the area and shouted slogans against the Assam government and police.

The district administration, which had earlier served eviction notice to the encroachers, asked the locals to vacate the area. However, the situation turned worse when some of the locals pelted stones at the eviction team forcing the security forces to first fire tear gas shells and later fire in the blank to disperse the crowd.

As some of the locals charged towards the police team with bamboo sticks and lethal weapons like machetes, the police resorted to firing, killing two of the protesting civilians. Police said that at least ten of the security force personnel also received injuries, some of them suffered grievous injuries.

Police said that some of the seriously injured security personnel have been rushed to Guwahati Medical College and Hospital for better treatment.

Assam CM reacts

Reiterating that the government is committed to clear all encroached land, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that police are given responsibility and that they are only doing that.

"As per the information available with me, there was also an attack on the security personnel with weapons like machete etc., Police were given a responsibility and they are only doing their duty," he said.

It may be mentioned here that 77,420 bighas of government land were under illegal encroachment under the Sipajhar revenue circle in Darrang district. The BJP-led Assam government had started a massive eviction drive in June this year and cleared about 8,000 bighas of land.

On September 20 this year, the government had launched another massive eviction drive in Dhalpur area and could clear 450 bighas of land evicting about 750 families, who belonged to religious minority communities, who had been residing there. According to a government estimate, about 500 families had been evicted on Thursday's eviction drive.