Guwahati: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma led Assam government has conducted one of the biggest evictions drives to clear over 5900 bighas of forest land encroached by Bangladeshi origin Muslims. The forest department and district administration on November 29 started the drive to clear 5962 bighas of reserve forest land encroached by illegal settlers for decades. Heavy security personnel were deployed by the administration to prevent any unwanted situation. The eviction team on the first day of the drive demolished 2070 bamboo huts and 192 rcc constructions.
Nagaon district commissioner Devasish Sharma said that 70 per cent of the eviction has been completed on the first day of the drive in the Lutumari Reserve Forest. The eviction drive was completely peaceful. The remaining 30 percent of eviction will be completed by tomorrow. DC Sharma further said that notices have been served to every illegal settler’s family prior to 3 months of the eviction and the administration had done regular public announcements in the past 7 days. Over 1100 families and more than 7000 people were residing there in the Reserve Forest.
CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said that in the past 5 years from May 2021, over 160 square kilometers of encroached forest and government land have been cleared. Starting from June 16, 2021, so far 50000 people of over 5000 families have been evicted from forest and government land by the state government.
It should be mentioned that Lutumari Reserve Forest in Nagaon district was declared as forest area in 1901for its elephant habitats. But during the Congress regime from 1991 the reserve forest was encroached by the Bangladeshi origin Muslim started encroaching the area resulting in a huge increase in man-elephant conflicts in the district. But after the landmark directive by the Guwahati High Court to clear all the forest land of the state, the BJP government has been conducting eviction drives in war footing.
The forest department along with district administration and police conducted an eviction drive in Dohikota reserve forest in Goalpara district and cleared encroachment on 1,143 bighas of forest land. The eviction notice was served to over 300 Bangladeshi origin Muslim families to evict the forest land before November 9. Many illegal settlers have left the forest land after receiving the eviction notice. The Dohikota reserve forest is an elephant inhabitant area. But after huge encroachment by illegal settlers the wild elephants are facing a huge challenge for their areas and as a result the human-elephant conflicts are increasing rapidly in Goalpara district.
