Gorukhuti eviction site: Assam govt earns Rs 1.51 crore from agri project

Guwahati: The Assam government has earned Rs 1.51 crore from an agriculture project in Gorukhuti, the site of a eviction drive, against allocation of Rs 16.1 crore in two years, the state Assembly was informed on Wednesday.

Replying to a query by Congress MLA Abdur Rahim Ahmed, Agriculture Minister Atul Bora said Rs 6.5 crore were allotted for the Gorukhuti Multipurpose Agriculture Project in 2022-23.

Out of the sanctioned amount, Rs 5 crore was released and Rs 3 crore was spent during the ongoing financial year, he added.

Earlier, the Assam government had allocated Rs 9.6 crore in 2021-22 budget to implement modern farming techniques and scientific animal rearing practices across 77,420 bighas of land at Gorukhuti in Sipajhar area.

Bora said that since the beginning of the project, which started after the eviction drive in September 2021, a total income of Rs 1.51 crore have been recorded so far.

“This figure does not include income from animal husbandry and milk production. Also, corn in 1,140 bigha are still in the field and all the mustard were not sold yet,” he added.

Bora said different types of seasonal vegetables, strawberry, pulses, fruits, pigs and various other goods have been produced in the project.

The minister also informed the House that 300 Gir cows brought in the third phase from Gujarat through the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) were declared “inferior quality” by doctors and all of them were returned without costing anything to the exchequer.

A total of 299 Gir cattle, the number of which were expanded from 123 cows brought in first and second phase, are still at Gorukhuti and giving 245 litres of milk everyday, he added.

Facing criticism from the opposition over extremely low yield, the chief of the project committee and BJP MLA Padma Hazarika claimed that not a single penny was misused in the ambitious project.

“If anyone can prove any irregularity, I will leave my political career. It is a conspiracy by some MLA of a particular community,” he added.

This led to a strong protest by all opposition members, creating a noisy scene for some time.
Hazarika later claimed that minority people have now come forward and they are now proposing to help the government in making the Gorukhuti project a success.

Around 1,200-1,400 houses, mostly belonging to Bengali-speaking Muslims, were razed to the ground on September 20 and 23 of 2021 in Dhalpur I, II and III villages, leaving over 7,000 people homeless. Village markets, mosques, kabarstans, madrassas and maktubs were also bulldozed.

The eviction drive left two dead in police firing on September 23, including a 12-year-old boy who had got his first identity proof, an Aadhaar card, just before he was shot dead.

Over 20 people were injured, including policemen, during the massive eviction drive.

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