Mass Eviction Drive Clears 795 Hectares in Assam; 1,700 Families Affected

Guwahati, Nov 29 : An eviction drive was launched in Assam's Nagaon district on Saturday to clear encroachments from 795 hectares of government and forest land, where around 1,700 families lived, officials said.

The drive started in Lutimari area in the morning amid heavy deployment of security forces and came to a close at 4 pm, but will resume on Sunday, they said.

Notices were served on the encroachers three months ago, asking them to vacate the lands within two months. They had requested an additional month to vacate, and the district administration agreed to it, an official said.

Over 1,100 families, living in both pucca and kuccha houses, had already left with their belongings, and the illegally built structures were dismantled, he said.

Altogether 2,070 kuccha houses and 192 brick houses and structures, including seven Anganwadi centres, two lower primary schools, a primary health centre and water treatment plants of the Jal Jeevan Mission were demolished, he added.

The eviction drive is being carried out at Bedetipar, Sankhula, Jurirpar and Kendapara villages in the Greater Lutumari Forest Reserve.

Around 70 per cent of the residents of these villages had already left their homes following the appeal of District Commissioner Devashis Sarma.

About 50 bulldozers have been engaged for the demolition drive, the official said.

Some residents claimed that they had been living in the area for over 40 years and were unaware that it was forest land.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had earlier claimed that over 160 sq km of land had been cleared of encroachments since he took charge in May 2021.

He had said that over 50,000 people have been evicted as a result of such anti-encroachment drives.

The eviction drives resumed in the state from June 16 this year, which affected over 5,000 families.

Most of the displaced people are from the Bengali-speaking Muslim community, who claim that their ancestors had settled in the areas where the eviction drives are being carried out, after their land in the 'char' or riverine areas was washed away due to erosion by the Brahmaputra River.