Assam: Eviction drive in Chirang to clear illegally occupied government lands from ‘encroachers’

The Chirang district administration in Assam on January 29 conducted an eviction drive in the reserve forest area of Chirang district to clear illegally occupied government lands.

According to reports, the eviction drive was carried out at Dholpani block and Manas block number 2 , Dholpani block number 5 Odalguri, number 1  Kalbari, and Kalbari number 2.

Meanwhile, the district administration had issued circulars informing of the eviction drive to the occupants of the government lands few days back.

DFO of Chirang Forest Division informed that around 2,000 hectares of forest land have fallen into the clutches of encroachers and further added that government will soon recover the encroached land.

It may be noted that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on December 21 asserted that eviction drives to clear government and forest land in the state will continue.

Earlier on January 10, A massive eviction drive was conducted by the administration of Lakhimpur district to clear lands of the Pabho reserve forest in Assam from alleged encroachers.

The eviction drive was conducted to free 500 hectares of forest land from “illegal settlers” in Lakhimpur district of Assam.

According to authorities in Assam, out of the total 2560.25 hectares of the reserved forest, only 29 hectares are free of any encroachment.

Additional SP of Lakhimpur district in Assam – Runa Neog informed that around 60 excavators and tractors were used for the eviction drive.
Moreover, to prevent any untoward incident during the eviction process, 600 security personnel were deployed at the site of eviction.