453 land brokers arrested in Assam

Drive came a month after CM sought removal of middlemen in land-related work

The State police will continue to take action against those who are harassing people in land revenue offices, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said. File

More than 40 days after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma asked the Revenue and Disaster Management department officials to eliminate middlemen from land-related work, police have arrested 453 land brokers.

They were picked up from various parts of the State on September 20 night for indulging in unlawful activities involving land sale, purchase and holding, the police said.

Dhubri district topped the list, with 30 arrests, followed by Morigaon 27, Nalbari 27 and Guwahati 22. Among other districts, 18 were arrested from Dibrugarh.

Taking to Twitter, Dr. Sarma said: “453 land brokers picked up so far in continuing raids by @assampolice in our concerted pledge to end #AssamFightsDalalRaj. This notorious practice of brokers/dalals in revenue offices harassing commoners must end. Our fight against nefarious activities will go on relentlessly.”

Special Director General of Police G.P. Singh said, “We strive to identify the black sheep amongst government personnel involved along with ascertaining unlawful backward and forward linkages of the persons arrested and take further action thereafter”.

On September 7, Dr. Sarma held a meeting with Revenue and Disaster Management department officials. He said middlemen “must be removed from the system” and citizens empowered to complete their land-related projects without difficulty.