Guwahati: More than 6,800 SQKM from Assam land, which is equivalent to more than four and a half times the region of the National Capital City of Delhi, has been lost in erosion or bound by people in the state and by four neighboring countries.
According to a reply from the income Minister Jogen Mohan to the query by the opposition leader, Debabrata Saikia, at home on Friday, more than 5.35 lakh bghas (or 716 SQKM) of land has been removed or eroded by rivers that are flooded in two decades.
The annual erosion wave has destroyed 1,141 villages inhabited by more than 58,000 families.
The minister stated that the family affected by this erosion, 5,028 has issued a certificate of citizens who do not have land and 23,995 other families have been given land rations.
According to the written reply of the Minister, four states – Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya – together have penetrated more than 332 SQKM from Assam’s forest and income land.
Assam has an old border dispute for decades with the four states, all of which are carved from the country.