Two tribal students’ organisations have opposed a proposal to acquire land from areas under the Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council (RHAC) for a project to expand Guwahati.
The RHAC is one of six statutory autonomous tribal councils. These do not enjoy the level of administrative, judicial, and financial powers granted to three others under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India.
The RHAC covers large swathes of Goalpara and Kamrup districts. On June 3, the Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) issued a proposal to acquire land for the Housing and Urbanisation Department in villages under the RHAC and notified Tribal Belts and Blocks within the Azara and Palashbari revenue circles of Kamrup district.
The proposal for the Guwahati City Extension project followed discussions between Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the GMDA’s chief executive officer on May 24.
According to the local units of the All Rabha Students’ Union (ARSU) and the All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU), the proposed acquisition would violate the provisions of the Rabha Hasong Autonomous Council Act and adversely affect tribal land rights.
The ARSU unit’s secretary, Ashok Nongbag, said the government issued notices for land acquisition in several villages, including 203 bighas (66.99 acres) in Jawe, 676 bighas (223.03 acres) in Deorali, and 280 bighas (92.4 acres) in Janghliapara. “These villages are among the 779 villages governed by the RHAC 2005 Amendment Act and belong to the Tribal Belts and Blocks,” he said.
Tribal Belts and Blocks are designated, compact geographical regions in Assam, established under an 1886 Act to protect the land rights and livelihoods of indigenous communities and backward classes from being alienated by non-tribal immigrants.
“We have been demanding since 2009 that the villages under the RHAC and the Tribal Belts and Blocks should not be included in the GMDA. The ARSU and ABSU, thus, jointly oppose the repeated conspiratorial attempts to include the revenue villages for the Guwahati expansion project,” ARSU president Ananda Rabha told journalists on Tuesday (July 14, 2026).
Mr Nongbag said the land acquisition proposal was a move to deprive the RHAC of an upgrade to a Sixth Schedule tribal council. “Apart from conspiring to fragment the Tribal Belts and Blocks, the government is trying to deprive the Raiti farmers, earning their living through agriculture for years, from getting land ownership,” he said.
Raiti refers to farmers cultivating privately-owned or leased land.
The ARSU and ABSU units urged the government to spare the 779 villages under RHAC from the GMDA urbanisation project and halt the “anti-tribal” move to reclassify the Tribal Belts and Blocks.
Two other organisations—the All Assam Bhumiputra Khilonjia Kachari Samaj (AABKKS) and the Adivasi Bhumiputra People’s Party—have also opposed the land acquisition proposal. Kachari is a group of tribes, including Bodo, Dimasa, and Rabha, considered the earliest inhabitants of Assam.
The AABKKS said the GMDA has eyed 2,662 bighas (878.46 acres) across six villages in the Azara Revenue Circle alone. The acquisition will entail a compensation of about ₹1,190 crore.
Published - July 15, 2026 09:37 am IST