GOLAGHAT: A massive eviction drive is underway to clear alleged encroachment on over 3,600 acres of forest land in Assam’s Golaghat district, officials said on Tuesday.
The move by the state government will affect at least 1,500 families, they said.
Several senior officials of the Golaghat district administration and the forest department told reporters that the eviction drive started in the morning to clear the alleged encroachment on almost 11,000 bighas (over 3,600 acres) of land in the Rengma Reserve Forest in Uriamghat along the Assam-Nagaland border in Sarupathar sub-division.
According to the Golaghat district administration and forest department officials, the drive aims to clear alleged encroachments spread across nearly 11,000 bighas of protected forest area, impacting approximately 1,500 families who had been served eviction notices.
The first phase of the eviction began on Tuesday morning in the main market area of Vidyapur, with a heavy presence of police and forest personnel. Authorities stated that the operation would gradually extend into residential zones, where a total of 2,648 illegal structures across 12 villages have been marked for demolition.
The villages identified include Sonaribil Top, No. 2 Pithaghat, No. 2 & No. 3 Dayalpur, Dalanpathar, Kherbari, Vidyapur, Vidyapur Bazar, No. 2 Madhupur, Anandpur, Rajapukhuri, and Gelajan.
“Approximately 2,000 families were residing in the area. Of them, 1,500 were issued eviction notices due to illegal settlement. The remaining families are recognized forest dwellers with valid Forest Rights Committee (FRC) certificates,” an official stated.