Guwahati: A “massive” eviction drive aimed at clearing over 11,000 bighas of land began on Tuesday inside Rengma Reserve Forest at Uriamghat in eastern Assam’s Golaghat district, sharing a border with Nagaland.
Several houses, shops and business establishments were demolished by using excavators in the presence of a large number of security forces and forest personnel.
Officials said more than 2,000 families had encroached on the forest land over the years, of which nearly 1,500 belong to Bengali-speaking Muslims. An official said eviction notices were served to 1,500 families while the remaining families had Forest Rights Certificates (FRC). Those possessing FRC are Bodos, Nepalis and Manipuris.
Golaghat district administration said most of the Muslim families have houses in other Muslim dominated districts like Barpeta, Nagaon, Dhubri and Morigaon and had illegally occupied the forest land. “Nearly 20% of the encroched land have been cleared today and the drive will continue tomorrow. Many families already vacated their houses after the notices were served recently,” said an official.
CM Himanta Biswa Sarma recently said many Bengali-speaking Muslims had illegally converted the forest land into betel nut farms.
This story was originally published in deccanherald.com. Read the full story here.
