At least 1,000 families in Assam's Dhubri district are facing deep uncertainty after the district administration launched legal proceedings over the alleged encroachment of approximately 1,500 bighas of government khas land in the Alamganj area, issuing show-cause notices to all occupants. The action, initiated under Rule 18(2) of the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation, 1886, gives affected residents 15 days to produce documentary evidence supporting their claims.

What the Notices Demand

The show-cause notices, served by the Dhubri district administration, require occupants to explain the legal basis of their possession of government land and submit valid ownership documents or other relevant records within the stipulated deadline. A senior official confirmed that every representation and document submitted during this period will be individually scrutinised before any further action is taken in accordance with applicable law.

The administration has maintained that the exercise is a statutory verification process — not an automatic eviction order — and that each case will be examined on its own merits.

Villages at the Centre of the Dispute

The notices primarily affect residents of Alamganj Part-7 and Alamganj Part-9, both located within the Gauripur Assembly constituency. These settlements have grown over the years as families displaced by recurring river erosion sought refuge on available government land.

Many residents say they originally lived in the char areas of the neighbouring South Salmara-Mankachar district, where repeated flooding and bank erosion by the Brahmaputra river destroyed their homes and agricultural holdings, leaving them with no viable alternative but to resettle on khas land.

The Document Crisis Facing Displaced Families

A critical concern among affected families is the near-impossibility of producing the very documents the administration is demanding. Several residents have stated that land records pertaining to their original properties were either lost during successive displacements or are no longer traceable through local Gram Panchayat offices and revenue authorities.

This creates a compounding vulnerability: families who were already victims of environmental displacement now risk eviction because the documentary trail of their prior landholding has been erased by the same natural forces that uprooted them. Critics argue that applying a standard legal-documentation test to communities rendered homeless by river erosion sets an inherently unequal bar.

Administration's Position and Next Steps

Officials have reiterated that any subsequent action — including possible eviction — will be undertaken only after due consideration of all evidence produced by occupants and strictly within the framework of existing legal provisions. The 15-day response window is currently in force, and residents across the two villages are reported to be gathering whatever documents remain available.

This comes amid a broader pattern of land-encroachment drives across Assam in recent years, with the state government undertaking several high-profile eviction exercises on government and forest land. How the administration balances statutory land rights against the humanitarian circumstances of erosion-displaced communities will be closely watched as the deadline approaches.