Umrangso/Barpeta, Assam: On August 12, the Gauhati high court’s sharp criticism of the Assam government and the Dima Hasao Autonomous Council (DHAC) over the allotment of 3,000 bighas of tribal land to the Kolkata-based Mahabal Cement Private Limited for mining operations made headlines nationwide.

The court’s stern words have exposed fault lines between tribal communities, the Council meant to safeguard their rights, and the corporate push into the ecologically-sensitive Sixth Schedule areas.

Dima Hasao, a Sixth Schedule district established in 1951, is governed by the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council (NCHAC), which manages land and local governance, particularly for tribal communities.The district borders Karbi Anglong and Hojai in the north, Cachar in the south, Nagaland and Manipur in the east and Meghalaya in the west. Most of these areas are predominantly inhabited by several tribal communities, surrounded by hills and deep forests rich in bio-diversity, timber and minerals. 

The Dima Hasao district is primarily habitat for the Dimasa, Karbi and several other plains tribes. The total forest cover of the district is 92% of its total geographical area. The district comprises both surveyed and unsurveyed lands – land rights in surveyed areas are administered by the Council, while in unsurveyed areas, locals follow traditional arrangements recognised by the revenue department. The population primarily rely on jhum (shifting) farming.

According to a Newslaundry report, the Assam government issued a tender in December 2023 for the auction of seven limestone mining blocks in Dima Hasao district without any survey to establish whether the said area requires environmental clearances. 

Soon after the new mine areas were announced, Dalmia Cements – which was already conducting mining operations in the area – approached the Supreme Court-constituted Central Empowered Committee (CEC), questioning the charges it had been made to pay earlier, since the latest tender documents described the same area as “non-forest” in the mining summary. 

Official court documents of petitions filed by villagers that The Wire has seen show that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-run Dima Hasao Autonomous Council in 2024 allotted two tracts of land near Umrangso – 2,000 bighas in March and 1,000 bighas in April – to Mahabal Cement. 

In October 2024, the Council issued the order of allotment for the 2,000 bighas of land it had allotted in March, on a periodic lease for 30 years, subject to further renewal, the villagers claim. 

In November 2024, the Council issued another order to allot the 1,000 bighas, the villagers say in their petition. The Council allotted the land between the places 26th Km Kruminglangdisa and 29th Km Kruminglangdisa near Umrangso, including villages Nobdi Longukro and Choto Larpheng. The Umrangso area already hosts several cement manufacturing plants, including Calcom Cement India Ltd. of the Dalmia group.

The residents of these villages say that they learned that their farmland had been quietly allotted to a private cement company when company representatives arrived to measure the land in March 2024. Villagers in Nobdi Longukro – over 40 families who had lived here for several decades – said they had no prior knowledge of the allotment.

In May 2024, Bapojith Langthasa, Congress spokesperson of Haflong, filed an Right to Information (RTI) application, seeking details on the move’s compliance with the Right to Fair Compensation Act, whether it needed environmental clearance, on the public notification of the land acquisitions, and several other queries. In his reply, the district’s settlement and revenue department did not address his queries, providing only a list of landowners’ names for the allotted 2,000 bighas of “Council khas land”. Langthasa told The Wire, “The Council has taken Rs 48 crore from the company. To facilitate the deal, it allotted another 1,000 bighas later. If the entire 3,000 bighas are measured, many more villages will be affected.”

Langthasa further added, “The Council has bypassed all the laws and environmental concerns. This is a complete scam.” 

Referring to recent local media reports on the allotment of over 1.5 lakh bighas of land to corporates in the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council, another administrative unit under the Sixth Schedule of the constitution, Langthasa said, “After the BJP came to power in the Sixth Schedule areas, there has been a sharp increase in the allotment of tribal land to big corporates.”

The villagers in Nobdi Longukro whom The Wire spoke to alleged that the Council transferred the land in the names of individuals linked to the ruling party to divert compensation benefits. They claimed many of the stated land owners are not locals.

A 45-year-old resident who lives near 26th Km Kruminglangdisa claimed that the authorities allegedly distributed cheques to select villagers deep in the night. Another villager who received one such cheque said, “Some have received cheques of Rs 2 lakh and some received cheques of Rs 15 lakh.” Most villagers made the allegation that a huge scandal is afoot. “The authorities managed to get the support of the influential people in the villages by giving them huge amounts of money as compensation,” the 45-year-old said. All villagers who spoke to The Wire requested anonymity.

The residents in Choto Larpheng near 26th Km Kruminglangdisa said that they did not accept the compensation cheques. The community leaders in Nobdi Longukro “returned nearly 30 cheques,” said a group of villagers. The residents claimed that while returning the cheques, they were warned by authorities that rejecting the payments would mean losing access to government compensation altogether.

On October 30, 2024, villagers said in their petition, the company representatives visited the site with a bulldozer to clear the land. Monjit Naiding, an executive member (EM) of the Council, arrived with his private security forces. When the villagers began a protest, Naiding allegedly snatched the gun of one of his security officers and fired towards the agitating villagers. An eye witness claimed the bullet nearly hit his leg. 

Timjos Terang (30), who belongs to a farmer’s family in the village, said, “We are already affected by the NEEPCO dam. We had to move here because our village was frequently flooded by the water released from the dam. Now the council is allotting our land to the company without any discussion and papers. Where do we go?”

A 23-year-old protester, whose family is dependent on jhum farming in Nobdi Longukro village, said, “Our phones were seized because we were recording the EM’s threats. Later we were called to the Umrangso Police station to collect our phones. But we have not got them back yet and it is close to a year.”

Another villager who requested that no details of his be revealed said, “We filed a police complaint against the executive member of the Council but no FIR ever got registered. Meanwhile, the people of the cement company lodged an FIR against some of us saying that we attacked them.” 

In August 2024, Bapojith Langthasa, quoted earlier, filed a PIL (PIL/49/2024) in the Gauhati high court on behalf of the villagers. On November 20, 2024, the court initially ruled in favour of the company, allowing it to begin work. Langthasa said, “The court acknowledged the issue but advised that the locals themselves should file a petition.”

In early 2025, a writ petition (337/2025) was filed by one Mukesh Gurjar, a resident of Rajasthan, on behalf of the company, alleging that villagers were obstructing its work.

Another PIL (467/2025) was in turn filed by 22-year-old Sonesh Hojai and 21 other residents of Nobdi Longukro, and Chota Larpheng alleging that the company is unlawfully snatching the petitioners’ land. 

Both cases were clubbed by the Gauhati high court which had at least nine hearings on the case by August 2025.

Sonesh Hojai told The Wire, “This is our right to protect our land. The company and the Council are unlawfully trying to grab our farming land and push us off from the area.” 

Sonesh claimed that he and his neighbours have faced multiple threats from the company and officials. He said his name has appeared in several complaints accusing him of disturbing the company’s work. He added that when villagers tried to negotiate with the company, it promised to provide employment. “But we demanded permanent jobs for all,” he said. “Otherwise the company will only offer us labour work and later sack us. What will we do after that?”

“Most of the villagers are afraid of the administration and the political leaders. They cannot raise their voice as they are facing continuous threats.”

The Wire has reached out to a representative of the cement company for its respond. This report will be updated when he responds.

'Technical manoeuvre'

A retired forest official alleged that the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), in its February 2025 report on the complaint filed by Dalmia Cements in Umrangso, has bypassed the Supreme Court’s landmark T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad vs Union of India judgment of December 12, 1996, which mandated that the term “forest” be interpreted in its widest sense, covering unclassed, degraded and regenerating areas. Instead, the CEC adopted the Assam government’s Forest Rules, 2022, which only recognised patches not less than 10 hectares with at least 200 trees per hectare. By applying this narrow definition, the CEC reduced 1,168 hectares of contiguous unclassed forest to just 14.53 hectares of “forest,” reclassifying the remaining 1,153 hectares as “non-forest.”

She told The Wire, “This technical manoeuvre is not incidental – these lands had already been earmarked by the Assam government for auction as limestone mining blocks.”

“The reclassification effectively clears the way for private mining companies to operate in ecologically sensitive areas without requiring forest clearance under the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Act, 2023.”

The opposition and rights groups condemned this attack on tribal communities and exploitation of land of a Sixth Schedule district. 

Convenor of the Sixth Schedule Protection committee, Daniel Langthasa told The Wire, “The BJP-led council did not consult residents before handing over their land to the cement company. This is illegal. The council should be safeguarding the rights of the tribal people, but instead it is threatening them and stripping them of their rights.”

Speaking to The Wire, All Party Hill Leaders Conference (APHLC) leader Dipen Rongpi said, “The land, forests, and minerals in the Sixth Schedule are constitutionally protected for tribal people. Only tribal communities can use the land here – outsiders or non-tribals cannot own land in this region.” He added, “The allotment of 3,000 bighas to the cement company is completely unconstitutional. If the council hands over the land, tribal people will be evicted from their homes and farmland.”

'Is this some kind of joke?'

During a hearing of the matter on August 12, Justice Sanjay Kumar Medhi expressed serious concern, noting that allotting 3,000 bighas of land was “extraordinary.” He directed the NCHAC counsel to produce records justifying the allotment, stressing that as a Sixth Schedule district, Dima Hasao’s tribal rights and its ecologically sensitive areas – home to hot springs, migratory birds, and wildlife – must be prioritised, he said.

Justice Medhi expressed shock at the act carried out by the council, “Three thousand bighas! The entire district? What is going on? A private company being given 3,000 bighas?

When G. Goswami, counsel for Mahabal Cements, argued, “It’s a barren land,” Justice Medhi remarked, “We know how barren the land is but 3,000 bighas? What kind of decision is this? Is this some kind of joke? Public interest, not private interest, is what matters."

On September 1, when the case was heard in the Gauhati high court again, the judges had several questions about the transfer of land.

“Where is the clearance certificate of the forest department? How do you start a cement factory? Where is environmental clearance from the government of India? How do you curve out a sixth schedule land? And what is Umrangso? It is an ecological hotspot. How do you have a cement factory there, 3000 bighas? Show us the record. If everything is proper we have nothing to say. But we will go by the...strictly by the books.”

When the company lawyer said that the land was purchased at Rs 2 lakh rupees per bigha from the council, the court asked who had made this purchase. Justice Medhi directed the lawyer of the company to produce the file containing all the records regarding the policy on the next date. He also directed the advocate general of Assam, who appeared on behalf of the state, to file an affidavit by today, September 2, explaining its entire position.

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