Guwahati, Dec. 17: Residents of at least 16 villages in lower Assam's Darrang district are planning to "take control" of 77,420 bighas of government land, being allegedly occupied by suspected illegal migrants for more than 20 years, on Wednesday.

The villagers, led by three organisations, will take out a procession before taking over the land under Sipajhar revenue circle.

"We have been demanding that the government free the land from encroachers but nothing has been done yet. We have already informed the administration through the media that people are unhappy with the government's response so far. So we will take control of the land from the encroachers peacefully," Upamanyu Hazarika, leader of one of the organisations, Prabajan Virodhi Manch, said here.

The other two are Sangrami Satirtha Sanmilan and Dakshin Paschim Goal Santha.

Announcing the decision at a news conference here, the leaders of the organisations said that before 1993, only grazing was allowed on the land by the Darrang district administration and human settlement was strictly prohibited.

"Gradually hundreds of illegal migrants settled there and the administration did not stop them. The indigenous people and dairy farmers who used to rely on the land suffered and were attacked by the settlers when they protested. In 1994, in a letter to Darrang deputy commissioner, the government had said the land was illegally occupied but nothing has been done to evict them. Bangladeshis pose as flood and erosion victims from Dhubri and Barpeta districts and settle there," Hazarika, a Supreme Court lawyer, said.

The situation could turn violent given the protests against the eviction carried out by the government in Kaziranga National Park in September and in Mayong in Morigaon district in October. Two persons died and several were injured during a protest against the Kaziranga eviction.

Hazarika, who was designated as a commissioner to study infiltration through the Indo-Bangladesh border in Assam last year, had recommended that a law be passed to protect the land rights of people having their names in the 1951 voter list.

"The National Register of Citizens, 1951, is being updated with the cut-off date of March 24, 1971. But we must protect land rights of the indigenous people," he said.

Hazarika said instead of clearing the land, the encroachers have been provided houses under Indira Awaas Yojana, schools and Anganwadi centres. Nearly 70,000 settlers are living on government land, he said.

Satya Rajbongshi of the Santha said he was beaten up by encroachers and cases filed against him as he protested the illegal settlement by "Bangladeshis".