Silchar: Despite protests by hundreds of laborers and their families, the Assam government on Thursday carried out a massive eviction drive at Doloo tea estate in the Cachar district of Assam to pave way for building a greenfield airport.
A huge number of police personnel and paramilitary forces have been deployed in and around the tea estate, located about 25 kms away from Silchar town, to tackle any law and order situation in the area considering the recent protests by the laborers.
While the government wants to build a greenfield airport in the 2500 bigha land of the Doloo tea estate, the laborers opposed the move saying that working in the tea garden is their only livelihood option.
Hundreds of laborers and their families including women and children came out and tried to stop the eviction drive. The district administration, however, went ahead with the eviction drive and engaged about 200 excavators to uproot the freshly planted tea saplings in the garden.
The Doloo Tea estate private limited had undergone an agreement in the month of March with the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS), trade union bodies, and workers' unions assuring that all the dues of the workers will be cleared once compensation is received from the state government.
The MoU also assured to protect the jobs of the tea garden laborers and that the acquisition of 2500 bighas of the land would not affect the laborers of the gardens.
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