Eviction underway in Assam's Nagaon for second day to clear encroachments from 798 ha of forest land

Nagaon (Assam), Nov 30 (PTI) An eviction drive was underway in Assam's Nagaon district on the second consecutive day on Sunday to clear encroachments from 5,962 bighas (nearly 798 hectares) of forest land, officials said.
    Around 1,700 families have been affected in the drive.
    The second and final day of the massive eviction drive started at Lutumari Reserve Forest in the morning after completion of around 70 per cent of the demolition work on Saturday, a senior official said.
    Nagaon District Commissioner Devashish Sharma and Senior Superintendent of Police Swapnanil Deka are supervising the eviction drive in the presence of Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Suhas Kadam.
    "More than 75 per cent of the encroachers have left. Yesterday, we carried out eviction in around 70 per cent of the land where 1,700 families were residing," the official said.
    The evicted people are taking shelter at rented accommodations and relatives' houses, and also themselves establishing relief camps in the nearby revenue villages, he added.
    Although the government has claimed that the area was encroached, but senior officials stated that there were houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G), water connection under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), Anganwadi centres and government schools under Sarba Siksha Abhiyan (SSA), sub-health centre under National Health Mission (NHM) and electricity connections to almost every household, besides markets and mosques.
    About 426 pucca and 985 kuccha units out of 1,548 houses of 1,700 families were demolished on Saturday, while the remaining will be evicted on Sunday, the official said.
    The district administration engaged several hundred security personnel and used dozens of excavators along with scores of tractors during the eviction exercise.
    Another officer claimed that notices were served on the alleged 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.
    The eviction drive is being carried out at Bedetipar, Sankhula, Jurirpar and Kendapara villages in the greater Lutumari Reserve Forest.
    Some residents claimed that they had been living in the area for over 40 years and were unaware that it was forest land.
    Since the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led government came to power in 2021, it has carried out a series of evictions to clear land from alleged encroachments, mostly affecting the Bengali-speaking Muslim population.
    On November 3, the Assam Chief Minister asserted that eviction drives to clear encroachments will continue.
    On July 21 this year, the CM said that 1.29 lakh bighas (over 42,500 acres) have been cleared of encroachment in the last four years, and around 29 lakh bighas (more than 9.5 lakh acres) of land are still under encroachment in the state.
    Sarma had claimed that these huge amounts of land were under encroachment of "illegal Bangladeshis and doubtful citizens" in the state.
    With the Assam government vowing to carry out a series of evictions to clear encroachments, political and social experts had earlier criticised such a move, saying that it was aimed at creating a 'narrative' ahead of the assembly elections next year.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)