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Regular-article-logo Thursday, 07 August 2025

Dispur sounded on eviction

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Staff Reporter Published 05.11.06, 12:00 AM

Nov. 5: The Kamrup (metro) district administration has moved Dispur for permission to clear encroachments in and around Gandhi Mandap on Sarania Hill.

The move has come in the wake of a report by a three-member inquiry committee constituted by the Gauhati High Court. The panel found that most of the land belonging to the complex has been encroached upon, posing a threat to the very existence of the monument. Encroachment has already caused heavy soil erosion on the hill.

The committee, comprising advocates Hasibur Rahman, Joginder Singh and Dilip Das, had advised urgent and effective measures to clear the encroachments and recover the land belonging to the memorial.

Kamrup (metro) deputy commissioner Avinash Joshi said the administration has approached the state government for permission to clear the encroachments on the hill.

“Sarania Hill is not an isolated case. All the hills in the city have been encroached upon. Eviction is a sensitive matter and the administration does not wish to trigger any social tension by initiating steps in an unplanned or haphazard manner. We are waiting for Dispur’s green signal and its advice on the roadmap for clearing Sarania Hill of encroachments,” he said.

Gandhi Mandap is a double-storey white building atop the hill, which was inaugurated in 1970 by the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. It was intended to serve as a museum of Gandhian arts and thought. Photographs, artefacts and documents connected with the freedom struggle are preserved in the memorial, which also features a 20-feet statue of Mahatma Gandhi.

The inquiry committee also found that though bamboo fences have been constructed to prevent erosion on the hill, most of them have been damaged. While the rain is primarily responsible for this, ineffective implementation of the project is also to blame.

Joshi said the Kamrup administration has also filed an affidavit in the high court, apprising it of the measures being taken to prevent soil erosion and development of Gandhi Mandap.

The administration has also sought an explanation from the public works department (PWD) on the dilapidated condition of the road leading to the Mandap, which has not been repaired since 1972.

“Some parts of the road have been rendered quite dangerous by landslides. It has become risky even for pedestrians. PWD engineers have inspected the road and are preparing a report,” an official said.

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