The Assam government is looking to enact a law barring “non-indigenous people” from purchasing land in an eight-kilometre radius around the historic Batadrava Than, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Sunday.

Batadrava in Nagaon district is the birthplace of 16th-century Neo-Vaishnavite saint-reformer Srimanta Sankardeva.

অসমৰ জাতীয় জীৱনৰ ভেটি গঢ়োঁতা মহাপুৰুষ শ্ৰীমন্ত শংকৰদেৱ গুৰুজনাৰ পৱিত্ৰ জন্মোৎসৱত ঐতিহ্যমণ্ডিত বটদ্ৰৱা থানত তেৰাৰ শ্ৰীচৰণত ভক্তি অঞ্জলি অৰ্পণ কৰি প্ৰশান্তি লভিছোঁ।

A blessed day at Batadrava Than🙏 pic.twitter.com/vUyNJashiH

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) September 24, 2023

During an event marking Sankardeva’s 575th birth anniversary at Batadrava on Sunday, Sarma said: “We are making efforts for a law so that people other than indigenous people cannot buy land around it. In the meantime, I have told the DC also that till the Act is not finalised, they should not give permission to people other than indigenous people to buy and sell land around here. I think in February’s Vidhan Sabha session, we will be able to present a law that in an 8 kilometre radius around Batadrava Than, only people who have lived for at least a 100 years will be able to buy and sell land.”