Nalbari, Jun 7 (PTI) Asserting that eviction drives to clear encroachment will continue in Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said the biggest achievement of his government has been that people are now afraid to illegally occupy land.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a programme here, he maintained that a change in the demography of a constituency due to immigration is a “politically dangerous thing” and that he has been trying to explain to minority community leaders that there will be no “confrontation” if people stay in their own places.

He said several eviction drives have been carried out in the last four years, and it has been ensured that the cleared land is not encroached upon again.

Noting that eviction cannot be carried out by just serving a notice and Supreme Court laid down rules have to be followed, Sarma said, “Still, in every district, we have conducted at least one eviction drive and our biggest achievement is that now people are afraid to encroach any land like earlier.” Maintaining that intra-state immigration also poses challenges, he said that “if the demography of a constituency is changed due to immigration, it is a politically dangerous thing”.

He cited the example of Goalpara East assembly constituency, which used to be a Hindu majority seat, but with the relocation of 20,000-30,000 people from neighbouring Baghbor because of erosion, the Hindus became a minority there.

Maintaining that the migrants could have remained voters in their place of origin, he said, “If we don’t show mutual respect and want to grab others’ places, then the situation in Assam will become bad.” “If the people live in their own areas, there will be no confrontation. I have been trying to make the minority leaders understand this. If we understand this, there will be no problem,” he said. PTI SSG SSG SOM