The Assam government on Tuesday launched a massive eviction drive in the Rengma forest area of Golaghat district bordering Nagaland to demolish over 2,600 alleged encroachments spread over 1,500 hectares of forest land, officials aware of the matter said. The move is set to affect at least 3,000 to 4,000 families.
According to forest officials, a total of 2,648 illegal houses, spread across 12 villages within the reserve forest area, have been marked for eviction. “On the first day, over 4.2 hectares of the encroached land, which included 50 concrete residential structures and nearly 200 small and medium-sized business establishments, was cleared,” an official said.
The drive is being carried out in Sonaribil, Pithaghat, Dayalpur, Dalanpathar, Kherbari, Vidyapur, Vidyapur Bazaar, Madhupur, Anandpur, Rajapukhuri, and Gelajan localities — all Muslim dominated.
According to the Golaghat district administration officials, over 2,000 Assam Police personnel, including battalions from different districts, along with 500 forest guards, have been deployed to maintain law and order during the eviction process. “This is part of a series of eviction drives. In the past, we have faced challenges, including attacks on government officials,” chief forest conservator MK Yadava said.
This is the third large-scale eviction drive in Assam since July 8. The first two were conducted in Dhubri and Goalpara, where over 2,000 allegedly illegally constructed houses were demolished. While the earlier phases witnessed protests from locals, no major protest has yet been reported in Uriamghat.
{{/usCountry}}This is the third large-scale eviction drive in Assam since July 8. The first two were conducted in Dhubri and Goalpara, where over 2,000 allegedly illegally constructed houses were demolished. While the earlier phases witnessed protests from locals, no major protest has yet been reported in Uriamghat.
{{/usCountry}}A local resident said his family settled in the area in 1974. “We have documents like Voter ID and Aadhaar. We have lived here for decades and faced attacks from tribal groups. But now the government is demolishing our houses. We have nowhere to go.”
Another resident, Ali Kazi, told PTI: “Where will we go from here? My father had come from Nagaon district around 40 years ago, but I was born here. We were brought here during the 1980s to protect the forest land from encroachment from Nagaland.”