Assam starts evicting ‘encroachers’ from forest land

Tezpur (Assam): The Assam government on Tuesday began clearing nearly 1,900 hectares of forest and government land in Sonitpur district, affecting 12,000-odd people who were allegedly staying there illegally for decades, a senior official said.

In the fourth such drive in two months, the Sonitpur district administration started the exercise under heavy security to clear “encroached” land in Burachapori Wildlife Sanctuary and nearby revenue villages on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra river in central Assam. While most of the occupants, predominantly Bengali-speaking Muslims, had left their houses after receiving notices in the last few weeks, some were in the process to vacate their premises when the eviction drive started, some of the affected families said.

Asserting that they were never told by anyone that the areas they were living in fell under forest or government land, the “encroachers” claimed they received benefits from various state and central schemes.

The opposition Congress slammed the BJP-led government over the eviction drive, claiming that many of the affected families are entitled to have land rights as per the Forest Rights Act, 2006.

Sonitpur Deputy Commissioner Deba Kumar Mishra said that thousands of people “illegally occupied” the forest and nearby areas for decades and the administration has decided to clear 1,892 hectares during the ongoing exercise till Thursday. “Out of this, 1,401 hectares fall under the BWS and the remaining 491 hectares is government land. In the forest, 1,758 families were living, comprising 6,965 people,” he said.According to the latest survey, 755 families comprising 4,645 people were residing on the government land, the official said, adding that the exercise has been peaceful so far and there is no opposition. Mishra said, “We discovered that this area was never surveyed and people were in confusion if their villages fall under Nagaon or Sonitpur district. Govt schools, Anganwadi centres, mosques and other structures were built by people who thought it is Nagaon district.”