Hundreds of residents and members of tribal organisations held a major protest in Jorabat on Sept. 15 against a proposed high-voltage transmission line that they say would cut through agricultural and residential land in the Nartap area of Sonapur. Protesters, led by the Amri Karbi Students’ Union and backed by five other tribal groups, demanded that the government abandon the current alignment and find an alternative route.
The demonstration centred on plans to erect high-voltage transmission towers (400/220/132/33 kV) across roughly 13 villages in the Sonapur Revenue Circle. Organisers said the alignment would affect patta land — land held with official title — belonging to tribal families and would damage both homes and cultivated fields.
A memorandum addressed to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was submitted to the Dimoria Co‑District Commissioner, calling for an immediate halt to the proposed alignment and for authorities to identify an alternate route that spares patta land. The memorandum was handed over after the protest march, which began at Digaru Bali Gate and proceeded to the Dimoria Co‑District Commissioner’s office.
Protesters said they had held several meetings with the Kamrup Metropolitan district administration and the Dimoria Co‑District Commissioner, and that officials had previously assured them an alternative alignment would be explored. The organisations alleged no such alternative has been produced.
For the area’s predominantly agricultural communities, loss of patta land would directly threaten homes and livelihoods, the protesters said. They also noted that many families on non‑patta land lack the same land rights and access to government assistance, making the potential loss of titled land especially serious.
Participants accused the government of repeatedly placing tribal land under pressure in the name of development and demanded that infrastructure projects not come at the cost of the community’s remaining agricultural land. The organisations warned that failure to address their demands would trigger a wider agitation in coming days. Authorities’ response to the allegations was not immediately available.
