Assam Shelves Satellite Township Survey Near Tata Semiconductor Plant Following Tribal Backlash

The Assam government has officially cancelled an ongoing land survey for a proposed satellite township near the upcoming ₹27,000-crore Tata semiconductor plant in Morigaon district. The decision, executed via an immediate order by Morigaon District Commissioner Anamika Tewari, comes after intense protests from indigenous Tiwa and Bodo community groups. While local communities have broadly welcomed the mega semiconductor facility itself—which is being built on the grounds of a defunct paper mill in Jagiroad and is expected to produce 48 million chips daily—they strongly resisted the accompanying township project. Local tribal bodies and opposition leaders argued that the project threatened protected ancestral lands within the Gobha Tribal Belt, sparking deep fears of displacement and eviction among local villagers.

In response to the growing public unrest and mass rallies led by groups like the All Tiwa Students’ Union, district authorities halted all Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) survey activities in the affected villages of Sindhisar and Naladhara. State officials reassured the public that the government would not take steps that harm the socio-economic interests of indigenous populations, emphasizing that local concerns will be thoroughly evaluated before any future development plans are made. Despite the complete withdrawal of the township’s land survey to ease local tensions, construction and development on the primary Tata Electronics semiconductor facility are proceeding entirely as scheduled.