580 More Families Evicted As Assam Resumes Demolition Drive

Guwahati language : The Assam government on Sunday launched a massive eviction campaign in Western Assam’s Goalpara district to evict alleged encroachment of around 1,140 bighas (153 hectares) of forest land. Goalpara deputy commissioner Prodip Timung told reporters that evacuation efforts would likely take at least two to three days. “We have issued an eviction notice to 580 families. The entire land is completely under the Dahikata Reserve Forest and has been occupied by these people,” he said.

Pointing out that about 70 percent of the “illegal settlers” of the area have already left the place after getting the notices, he said that the remaining encroachers are in the process of vacating the land.

Informing that the eviction drive which started on Sunday has not faced any resistance so far, he however said that the district administration has engaged adequate security personnel and used dozens of excavators along with scores of tractors during the eviction exercise. “We have divided the area into 5 blocks and only in one block there are still some people. In the other blocks, 80 percent of the people have left,” he said.

It is significant that Assam witnessed a massive eviction campaign this year; The government carried out multiple demolitions in multiple areas in a move it described as a step to stop “demographic invasion” by “people of one religion”. The majority of those evacuated were people of Bengal origin, belonging to the Muslim community.

The campaign was temporarily suspended following massive eviction drives in July and August following the death of Assamese superstar singer Zubeen Garg on September 19.

Significantly, Goalpara district has already witnessed several major eviction campaigns to eliminate encroachments on forest lands. A similar eviction drive was carried out on July 12 to clear 140 hectares of forest land in the Paikan Reserve Forest in the district, and on June 16, a campaign was carried out to evacuate more than 600 families from the Hasila Beel wetland in the district.

Meanwhile, some of those evacuated on Sunday accused the Congress party of not providing them with proper accommodation during their regime. Arguing that they were allowed to settle on forest lands during the Congress regime, the evacuated families claimed that the lands given to them by the government were not legalized by Congress leaders.