GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Friday said his government would undertake a mission to reclaim the ‘chars’ — sandbars or river ‘islands’ — from encroachers to safeguard the “ecological integrity” of the Brahmaputra Valley.
He also said the government would start establishing heritage belts and blocks encompassing religious and historic sites where non-indigenous people would not be allowed to acquire land toward making “Assam safe for the coming generations”.
“We will start Mission Basundhara 4.0 to reclaim land in the char areas. We will conduct a survey of these chars and carry out eviction,” the Chief Minister said, launching Mission Basundhara 3.0, a flagship scheme to ensure land rights for landless indigenous people of the State.
