Assam's Garukhuti Project: Green shoots creator or white elephant?

Garukhuti may have evaded national memory, but time and again it continues to crop up in a controversial manner in Assam. As it did during the recently held Budget Session of the Assam legislative assembly.

Opposition MLA Akhil Gogoi raised the issue in the Assembly, alleging that the state government is running the project at a loss of several crores. This has led to a litany of claims and counter-claims.

In a way, Garukhuti is the first-ever government-managed agricultural project in Assam. It is ambitious and capital-intensive and, in its first phase, seems to have created more controversies than solutions for the state's farmers.

Eviction for project

In September 2021, after Himanta Biswa Sarma became the Chief Minister of Assam, the state government held massive eviction drives. One such area was Dholpur of Darrang district. The eviction gained infamy following the death of a villager in police firing. Notably, the evictees were hundreds of Muslims who opposed the government action.

The Himanta government claimed the eviction was needed to free the land of encroachments and to initiate a multi-layered agricultural project known as the Garukhuti Project. However, even after two-and-a-half years, Garukhuti remains controversial.

The Opposition is not convinced that the multi-layered Garukhuti Project has been worth all the trouble, money and violence it has entailed.

'BJP model' slammed

Akhil Gogoi recently claimed that Garukhuti is the symbol of BJP’s development model, where minorities are uprooted for projects that yield little. Till date, over Rs 17 crore has been been invested in the project, and not even Rs 2 crore has been earned by selling the agricultural product, said Gogoi.

He claimed that the data was taken from an answer given by state Agriculture Minister Atul Borah in an Assembly session.

He further said Garukhuti epitomises the BJP’s development model which is just "misuse of public money'.

It's profitable, says govt

However, the claims were dismissed by BJP MLA Padma Hazarika, who is also the chairman of the Garukhuti Project.

The government insists that the project is making huge profits and that those evicted from Dholpur in September 2021 have been provided with alternative accommodation.

Speaking to The Federal over telephone, Hazarika said: “In 2021, when the project was started, it was managed by the district administration but later the government decided to set up a society for its management. Thus, in 2022, the Garukhuti Project was registered under the Society Registration Act. I have been the chairman of the project since then.”

'Gogoi's claim is bogus'

Gogoi's claim is false, he said. "Initially, we were granted Rs 12 crore by the government and we invested a part of it in the project. We still have over Rs 5 crore in our account. This year, we will get over Rs 2 crore from selling corn and mustard produced in Garukhuti," he added. "Moreover, another crore or more has been earned by selling various other products from the project.”

"What Akhil Gogoi claims is bogus," he said.

Any project requires capital investment, Hazarika pointed out. "We have given detailed accounts of where we invested initially, like in procuring agriculture equipment, constructing fisheries, buying Gir cows from outside the state, developing piggeries etc. Can’t Akhil Gogoi understand this?” he charged.

"Under the project, we procured 122 Gir cows from other states like Gujarat and their milk products are being sold," he added.

What happened in September 2021

When the eviction of Muslim settlers took place in and around Dholpur in 2021, the police shot dead an elderly man who charged at them with a thin stick in his hand.

The killing sparked outrage, more so when it became known that a government-appointed photographer had jumped over the chest of the dead man.

Himanta ordered a probe into the incident. The police claimed they fired in self defence. The photographer was arrested. The government decided to relocate the 2,051 evicted families to Dalgaon, about 50 km away.

Informed sources say the Dholpur area was picked for the agricultural project because of its bloody history. Back in the 1980s, during the Asom Andolan (Assam Movement), indigenous Assamese were allegedly killed by Muslims of Bengal origin.

Project objective

Around 7,800 bighas (over 2,578 acres) of land has been allocated for the Garukhuti project, Hazarika told The Federal. Of this, 3,900 bighas are used for winter crops and other activities like running fisheries and piggeries.

Rice, the staple food of Assam, is not cultivated in the project area due to a flooding problem. However, said Hazarika, plans are afoot to construct embankments and dams in the nearby river to facilitate rice cultivation in the future.

While the government has ready answers, the Opposition has relentlessly questioned the viability of the project. Last year, Congress MLA Abdul Rahim Ahmed raised a question in the Assembly on this. Then, too, Hazarika defended it, saying that MLAs from “a particular community” wanted the land to be given back to encroachers.

Jobs created

Garukhuti, it is expected, will help create more rural jobs and lift the local economy. Uddipta Gautam, the CEO of Gurukhuti Project, told The Federal that as of now, 300 youths and farmers are employed as wage earners.

“All of them are from the nearby villages and we have camp arrangements for the men to stay over. The women head back home each day," he said.

Depending on the season and nature of work, the number of workers is increased or decreased.

Pain of the displaced

While the project offers some jobs, those who lost their land and homes continue to suffer. To understand the present condition of the evictees, The Federal spoke to Sohor Ali.

Ali's legs were injured by bullets fired by the police during the eviction, after which he could not engage in agricultural activities. “We have got no compensation from the government. Even the cost of my injuries was met by social and political organisations who stood in solidarity with us,” he said.

“Before the evictions the people primarily engaged in agriculture. Since 2021, our people have gone to Guwahati or other states like Karnataka for daily wages. Ten people including me were injured by bullets," he narrated.

"There is a case pending at the Gauhati High Court demanding compensation, but that is yet to be decided on. We do not know what the verdict will be, but we remain hopeful," Ali said.

Outside of benefits net

Ali told The Federal that some 2,150 families were evicted from Dholpur village and most of them still remain outside any government beneficiary schemes like the much-hyped Arunodoy (which provides Rs 1,200 a month to beneficiaries) or the Annapurna (that provides 5 kg of rice to each member of a family per month).

His own family has five members including his wife and his three children, all of them aged less than 17. His father and elder brothers have been helping them, he said.

A portion of the evicted families have received some land, said Ali. One bigha of land has been allocated to each family and till now over 1,000 families are settled. “Probably the rest of the families evicted will also get land to settle," he said.

Ali's four brothers and their families were also given some land by the government. But, they are not provided any land patta (registration document); they are merely "settled" in the new location.

“The land is provided (for some), but we cannot build our houses here without the compensation amount. We have emptied all our savings and we are sheltering ourselves under tirpals (tarpaulin shades),” rued Ali.

In search of an agri model

The agriculture sector in Assam is steeped in old practices, and a capital-intensive project like Garukhuti has arrived as a shock. It is quite foreign to farmers who are still dominantly engaged in the age-old subsistence agricultural model.

Bonojit Hussain, a researcher and an agriculture entrepreneur, says he is in search of a farm model in Assam that can benefit the indigenous farmer or can encourage them to earn more.

"See, our indigenous farmers do not have a model of agriculture to look for," he told The Federal. "They are still engaged in it in the age-old fashion — production depending solely on nature. You can compare it with a farmer from Telengana, Maharashtra or for that matter Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, and you will notice the stark difference."

Knowing what to do

"Let me give you an example with how our indigenous farmers spend a loan of Rs 2 lakh under the KCC (Kisan Credit Card)," Hussain elaborated.

"They take the money and fritter it away, barring an imperceptible section. On the other hand, a farmer from Telangana will know where exactly to spend the money –perhaps they will invest it in cotton cultivation. So is the case with a farmer in Maharashtra or Punjab or Haryana or elsewhere.

"They have established agricultural models in their states and they know how much they can earn by spending what amount of money. Assam’s farmers don’t know it, because they don’t have an established model here.”