Char areas

February 19, 2024

Assam CM has said that his government would undertake a mission to reclaim the ‘chars’ — sandbars or river ‘islands’ — from encroachers to safeguard the “ecological integrity” of the Brahmaputra Valley.
These are locally known as “Char/ Chapori” and cover about 3.60 lakhs hectares of land.
They are subjected to erosion on their upstream and deposition on the downstream, due to which they migrate downstream.
There are more than 3,500 chars on a network of rivers dominated by the Brahmaputra in Assam.
Most of these chars, allegedly without proper regulation, are inhabited and cultivated by Bengali Muslims, often viewed as “illegal immigrants” or “Bangladeshi”.
Initiative
- Mission Basundhara 4.0 will be started to reclaim land in the char areas.
- Under Mission Basundhara 4.0, chars of permanent nature would be identified for reclamation toward limiting land acquisition and promoting sustainable land management practices.