The Bhumi Adhikar Joint Struggle Committee, Assam has strongly condemned the brutal attack on indigenous tribal farmers who opposed the government’s move to construct a five-star hotel at Ingle Pathar in Kahra Hatikhuli, Kaziranga. The committee alleged that the government was committing extreme atrocities on the common people for the benefit of the capitalist group Hyatt Hotels and Resorts.
In a press statement, committee convenors Krishna Gogoi and Subrata Talukder said that on June 28, the police deployed armed forces in the area earmarked for the Inge Pathar hotel and prevented the normal movement of farmers. Farmers, who have cultivated their land for centuries, protested and were brutally beaten by the police when they tried to enter their land. Several people were seriously injured in the attack and a young woman named Rashmi Gowla was hospitalized in a critical condition.
The committee said the land records and records of the 45 victim families proved that they have been cultivating the land for more than three generations. Despite informing the Golaghat district administration of all evidence of legal occupation, the government conspired to hand over the land to elite hotel groups instead of giving it on term lease to farmers.
The committee made three clear demands regarding this incident as gross violation of fundamental and constitutional rights of tribals. The first demand is that the government should immediately reverse the decision to hand over farmers’ land to Hyatt or any other multinational hotel group. Second, government forces and police terror to evict tribals for corporate interests must stop immediately. The third demand of the committee is that the government should immediately grant permanent tenure leases and fair rights to every farming family in Ingle Pathar who have been farming for centuries.
The committee has always stood by tribal farmers in their struggle to protect their land rights and urged the government to immediately change this repressive attitude and corporate-oriented policies.