The land was allotted to the state-run Assam Power Distribution Company Limited, which subsequently allotted it to Adani Power Limited for the project.
On Sunday, the chief minister said that the 3,200 MW thermal power project was Assam’s “biggest-ever power project” and would generate enough electricity to meet the state’s entire power needs.
Assam has just launched its biggest-ever power project.
The 3,200MW Thermal Power project in western Assam will generate enough electricity to meet the State's entire power needs.
On July 14, an Expert Appraisal Committee under the Union environment ministry had recommended granting environmental clearance to Adani Power Limited’s proposed coal-based thermal power plant.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday laid the foundation for a thermal power project to be built by Adani Power Limited in the state’s Dhubri district on land where the homes of 1,400 Bengali-origin Muslim families were demolished in July 2025.
The project is located in Charuabakhra, Chirakuta I and II and Santoshpur villages under the Chapar revenue circle.
In July 2025, the Assam government had demolished the homes of more than 1,400 Bengali-origin Muslim families living on nearly 1,157 acres of government land in these villages to make way for a power project. The land was allotted to the state-run Assam Power Distribution Company Limited, which subsequently allotted it to Adani Power Limited for the project.
Nearly 10,000 Bengali-origin Muslims who had lived in the area for at least three decades to four decades were displaced following the demolitions, Scroll had reported.
A resident had said then that many were “erosion-hit people who lost their ancestral homes due to the Brahmaputra”.
On Sunday, the chief minister said that the 3,200 MW thermal power project was Assam’s “biggest-ever power project” and would generate enough electricity to meet the state’s entire power needs.
“The project is expected to generate up to 20,000 jobs during construction and around 5,000 jobs once operational,” the Adani Group said in a statement.
Assam has just launched its biggest-ever power project.
The 3,200MW Thermal Power project in western Assam will generate enough electricity to meet the State's entire power needs.
This ₹48,000 crore project is a direct outcome of #AdvantageAssam2.0,held just 18 months ago. pic.twitter.com/CbF1AQWTc5 — Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) September 20, 2026
Sarma had said earlier that the Adani Group had committed to investments worth Rs 50,000 crore that it had proposed during a business summit in the state in February.
On July 14, an Expert Appraisal Committee under the Union environment ministry had recommended granting environmental clearance to Adani Power Limited’s proposed coal-based thermal power plant.
In its submission for environmental clearance, the company told the ministry that there were no habitations at the site and therefore involved no rehabilitation or resettlement claims.
However, residents affected by the evictions have disputed this.
Abdur Rashid Sheikh, a resident, told Scroll that the Assam government had already cleared the project site through the “forceful eviction drives”, leaving 1,400 families without homes or rehabilitation and resettlement.
“Apart from the 3,500 bighas of government land that was taken forcibly, there were 1,700 bighas of land where people with land titles lived that were also taken,” Sheikh said. “About 50% of the landowners with land titles have not received compensation yet though their paperwork is done.”
The district authorities had allocated 300 bighas in Baizar Alga village to rehabilitate the affected perons and earmarked Rs 50,000 in a one-time relief to help them transport their belongings.
However, some residents said they were unwilling to move to the site because it is a low-lying riverine area in the middle of the Brahmaputra river.
Around 1,400 Muslim families were displaced during the eviction drive in July 2025. Credit: Special arrangement.
On March 30, 2025, the district administration submitted a proposal to convert the village grazing land, a category of government land designated for cattle grazing, for the power project, according to minutes of a district-level land advisory meeting held on April 2.
The district administration subsequently issued eviction notices and demolished the homes.
Since the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in Assam in 2016, multiple demolition drives have been conducted across districts, mostly targeting areas populated by Bengali-speaking Muslims. At least eight Muslims have been shot dead during evictions carried out since 2016.
Edited by Sara Varghese.
