Cultivators’ organisation accuses Assam government of trying to take over grazing land for corporate interests

Farmers in Golaghat district of eastern Assam have opposed the State government’s alleged push for oil palm on grazing land traditionally used by indigenous communities residing along the riverbanks.

The Jeepal Krishak Sramik Sangha, based in Bokakhat near the Kaziranga National Park, criticised Agriculture Minister Pijush Hazarika for threatening the livelihoods of people living along the Brahmaputra river and on its sandbars, allegedly for the benefit of the oil palm lobby.

The organisation said the State government was eyeing large swathes of riverine land at No. 1 Bokuli Sapori under the Bokakhat Assembly constituency. Asom Gana Parishad president Atul Bora, who is also the Panchayat and Rural Development Minister, represents the constituency.

According to the organisation, locals have been using the land, reportedly earmarked for oil palm cultivation, for grazing cows and buffaloes.

Soneswar Narah, the organisation’s leader, said the Agriculture Department had promised to sow rabi crops but planted oil palm saplings instead. “Without informing the locals, the officials formed an agriculture cooperative involving people who have no traditional connection with the land and organised an oil palm sapling-planting programme on August 25, 2026,” he said.

Mr. Narah said the project was presented as one involving rabi crops, including black gram, mustard and sesame, and that locals took time to discover oil palm saplings had been planted instead.

“Land of the indigenous Mising community should not be handed over for commercial interests without a proper assessment of the environmental and socio-economic consequences of oil palm cultivation,” Mr. Narah said, asking why the consent of the local communities had not been obtained for the project.

The grazing land in question is near Inglay Pathar, a patch of paddy fields at Kaziranga from where Adivasi farmers were allegedly displaced for a luxury hotel project. The local administration claims the land belongs to the government.