Gaibandha DC says returning of acquired land to evicted Santals ‘not possible’

Deputy Commissioner of Gaibandha Md Abdus Samad says that there is no scope of returning the acquired land to the Santals who were evicted from ‘Rangpur Sugar Mill’ land in Gobindaganj earlier this month.

He made this comment at a joint media briefing of the district administration and police on Sunday, two weeks after the eviction that witnessed sporadic clashes and deaths of three tribesmen.

The DC, however, did not elaborate why there was ‘no scope’ of rehabilitating the Santals on the land.

Three tribesmen died on Nov 6 when police opened fire to stop clashes between the workers of Rangpur Sugar Mill, which acquired the land in 1962 to farm sugarcane, and the Santals who have been living and farming the land for decades.

People across the country condemned the eviction and demanded that the Santals should be rehabilitated at their ancestral land.

The Santals have been staying at a local church since they lost their homes.

DC Samad said, "Those who have claimed to be staying under the open sky actually have own houses."

He said the district administration made a list of 31 Santal families as landless.

"But there is no scope of rehabilitating them in the sugar mill land. If they agree, we can rehabilitate them at the 14.26-acre land of Ashrayan Project in Katabarhi Union," he said.

The Santals have been demanding the ownership of their ancestral land back, alleging that the sugar mill violated acquirement deed by farming paddy and tobacco instead of sugarcane on the land.

Gaibandha Superintendent of Police Ashraful Islam said police only followed authorities' orders to safeguard properties and lives after the Santals 'attacked' them on Nov 6.

He also claimed police went to the area after the Santals attacked the sugar mill workers who went to plant sugarcanes on the land.