Sonitpur, Feb 15: Assam government began clearing nearly 1,900 hectares of forest and government land in the Sonitpur district, affecting 12,000-odd people who were allegedly staying there illegally for decades.
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 (BWS) 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 of vacating 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.
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The opposition Congress slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party-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.
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.
Last month, over 400 out of the 4600 hectares of land of the Pabha reserve forest in Assam’s Lakhimpur district was cleared of encroachers by the district administration amid heavy deployment of police security. The forest is located about 15km south of NH-15. About 500 families belonging to the minority community were evicted from the land.
