The ongoing eviction drive along Assam-Nagaland border turned violent. The eviction drive was carried out in Block No 3 at Balijan in Lahorijan at Assam-Nagaland border.
Residents of the area protested to know why such steps were taken despite a ‘stay order’ from the Court.
Assam-Nagaland eviction drive carried by KAAC
As per information, the eviction drive was carried out by Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council. The drive was conducted to evict around 100 households.
The council was carrying out the drive, aided by the police and district administration, to remove alleged “illegal encroachers” from the area.
Protestors started pelting stones
The residents of the area protested with placards and slogans and pelted stones at the eviction officials.
According to sources, the security personnel resorted to blank firing, lathi charge and used tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Superintendent of Police, Karbi Anglong, Pushpraj Singh, said, “We had to fire rubber bullets… no civilians were hurt but one policeman was severely injured.”
Reportedly, one policeman was injured during the protest and a cameraman of Prag TV was also injured.
Residents angered by the eviction as they had ‘stay order’
As per information, locals from the area were unhappy by the KAAC’s eviction drive, as most of them had obtained a ‘stay order’ from the Court.
K Aye, village chairman of Balijan ‘C’, mentioned, “We had requested some time from the KAAC but they carried out the eviction forcefully anyway. Now we have nowhere to go.”
Reports mentioned that a total of 134 houses were targeted to be dismantled in the eviction drive. But 34 of them had obtained ‘Stay Order’ from the Court.
More about the protest
The residents from the area complained that no notice was served about that day’s eviction drive.
Due to which most of their belongings were left inside their houses and were destroyed.
While some people managed to take out household items, some were seen collecting them after demolition of their houses.
According to locals, they got angered most when the authorities tried to break a bridge that connects the village to Dimapur.
This is the third eviction drive in the Lahorijan area and the first two were carried out in December 2021.
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