Golaghat, 28 July

The Assam government is preparing to clear more than 10,000 bigha (over 3,300 acre) of land from alleged encroachments in Golaghat district, which will affect at least 2,000 families, officials said on Monday.

The eviction drive will begin on Tuesday morning in Rengma Reserve Forest in Uriamghat along the Assam-Nagaland border in Sarupathar sub-division, they said.

"The exact details are still being worked out as the surveys continued today as well. However, it will be over 10,000 bigha of land, where around 2,000 families encroached," a senior Forest Department official said.

For carrying out the eviction drive, the authorities have divided the entire area into nine zones, and are doing the survey accordingly, he said.

"An extensive land survey of 30 villages in the Rengma Reserve Forest was done. It was found that thousands of bigha of forest land were converted into agricultural land by the encroachers," another official said.

A district administration official said proper notices were served by the Forest Department to the encroachers, giving them seven days to vacate the place.

"Following this, most of the suspected encroachers started vacating places such as Chilanijan, Kherbari, and Dayalpur," he said.

Many of the suspected encroachers are from Nagaon, Morigaon and Sonitpur districts, and most belong to the minority community, he added.

The Assam Police has stationed a senior officer from the headquarters in Golaghat to oversee the law and order situation during the eviction drive.

"There are enough security personnel deployed, and we are fully prepared. Apart from our own personnel, we have taken support from CRPF for the eviction exercise," the official said, without sharing further details.

Meanwhile, the Nagaland government issued an advisory to the bordering districts to keep a strict vigil so that displaced people cannot cross into the state following the eviction drive.

On 25 July, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma visited Uriamghat to inspect the areas that have been encroached upon.

He said nearly 70 per cent of the encroachers had vacated the land voluntarily, and those who had settled on the land came from various districts in Assam, such as Cachar, Sribhumi, Dhubri, Barpeta, Hojai, Nagaon and Morigaon, as well as from other states, including West Bengal and Bihar.

The CM had said on 21 July that 1.29 lakh bigha (over 42,500 acre) 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.