KOKRAJHAR: In a fiery display of defiance, the All Assam Tribal Sangha, Kokrajhar District Committee, staged a powerful protest on Thursday, setting ablaze copies of a government notification that adds eight new communities to the list of Protected Classes of Persons within the Tirap Tribal Belt. The move, described as “anti-tribal” by the organisation’s leadership, has ignited fears of an existential threat to the indigenous Scheduled Tribes for whom the belt was originally created.
Members of the Sangha gathered to express their strong disapproval, demanding the immediate withdrawal of the official order issued by the Revenue & Disaster Management Department. The notification, signed by Additional Chief Secretary Lamchonghoi Sweety Changsang, leverages powers under Sub-section (2) of Section 160 of Chapter X of the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation, 1886, to confer protected status upon the Ahom, Matak, Moran, Chutia, Gorkha, Koch Rajbongshi, Tea Garden community, and Adivasi communities.
The Tirap Tribal Belt, an area comprising 62 villages and roughly 2,90,400 bighas of land under the Margherita Revenue Circle, was established as a bulwark to protect the land rights of Aboriginal tribal communities. Tribal bodies now argue that the inclusion of these new groups will inevitably dilute these long-standing protections. They warn that such a decision will accelerate land alienation through unchecked encroachment and settlement by non-original tribes, jeopardising the very purpose of the belt.
The Sangha has declared its firm resolve to escalate its agitation, vowing to continue the protests until the government heeds their demands and revokes the controversial notification.
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