By Manoj Kumar Ojha
Guwahati : The Gauhati High Court questioned on the Assam government for the “inhuman” conditions prevailing in a rehabilitation camp in Hojai district’s Doboka Revenue Circle on Friday.
These people had lost everything to the eviction drives carried out by the state government in order to free government forest land.
The rehabilitation camp houses nearly 350 families displaced in an eviction drive in November 2021.
“This is Inhumanity of the highest order .How long can you keep people like cattle in temporary shelters built of tarpaulin?”Gauhati High Court chief justice Sandeep Mehta told state government advocate D.Nath.
Justice Mehta made these comments based on a report submitted by senior advocate B D Konwar, who had visited the rehabilitation camp on April 20 on the HC’s instructions.
Earlier that day, the court had taken suo motu cognizance of a report in an Assamese newspaper that 50 children between 18 months and 6 years had fallen seriously ill at Doboka camp in Hojai and had to be hospitalised after reporting symptoms of fever, diarrhoea, vomiting, etc. A PIL was registered and Konwar, appointed amicus curae, visited the camp in Hojai’s Changmaji Gaon, about 156 km from Guwahati, on Thursday.
Since November 2021, the camp has been sheltering those displaced by the eviction drive by the state government to clear Lumding Reserve Forest of ‘encroachers’. The eviction, mandated by Gauhati HC on a PIL by former Hojai MLA, Shiladitya Dev of the BJP, was carried out by the Forest Department with assistance from the police and district administration.
Konwar’s 36-paged report highlights the conditions in the camp and calls it “worse than that of a cowshed”.
“The lack of basic human necessities like toilets and bathrooms are making the life of inmates of the camp miserable,” the report notes. “The tubewells…are full of iron and there is no provision for filtration. Additionally, there is no drainage system, no electricity…”
It takes special note of 735 children, who currently live in the camp, and describes them as “most affected”. “Majority of them do not have proper clothing…They appear malnourished and have pale fingernails. Several children are still suffering from various ailments” the report states.
In Friday’s hearing, Justice Mehta said: “Just think of your own child…living in a tarpaulin… for two years…can you imagine the plight?”
Government counsel Nath said the children were being given treatment, to which Justice Mehta said: “Where will they go after the treatment… again to the same hellhole? What do you expect?”
Konwar’s report has made a set of recommendations, including deployment of a mobile medical unit, facilities for clean drinking water, access to electricity, among others. It has also recommended that the government should increase the capacity of nearby schools to accommodate these children.
Konwar had submitted that there were three schools nearby, but none beyond class VIII. “Due to the high number of children, there is shortage of seats available in the schools to accommodate them” he had said.
The HC has ordered the authorities to immediately address the issues, facilitate potable water supply, and submit the exact number of similar shelter camps for people who have been displaced on account of such eviction drives. The court has specifically asked for gender-wise distribution as well as the number of children.
Despite mounting criticism from the Opposition and rights groups, the Himanta Biswa Sarma government has been conducting a series of eviction drives to clear government land of “illegal settlers” and “encroachers”. The September 2021 drive in Darrang district’s Dhalpur, had turned violent, leaving two civilians dead and scores injured.
For May 8 , the next hearing is scheduled.
According to the state government over 3.6 lakh people of the state are homeless. Flood, erosion and ethnic conflict are the three main reasons of internal displacement in Assam.
The district administration of Hojai cleared out 1410 hectares of land in Lumding reserve forest in a five day long eviction drive in the early part of November 2021.