6 months ago
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The Assam authorities connected Sunday (November 9, 2025) began an eviction thrust to wide alleged encroachment connected 1,140 bighas (over 376 acres) of wood onshore successful Goalpara district, affecting astir 600 families, officials said.
According to Goalpara District Commissioner Prodip Timung, the workout is going "on peacefully" to wide the encroached country successful Dahikata Reserve Forest.
"There were 580 families who had encroached connected 1,140 bighas of land. The notices were issued to them much than 15 days agone to vacate the areas," helium told reporters.
Around 70% of the "illegal settlers" of the country person already near the spot aft getting the notices, portion the remaining are successful the process of vacating their houses, Mr. Timung said.
"Though we had acceptable 2 days for the eviction drive, the medication hopes to implicit the workout today. So far, we person not received immoderate resistance. We are demolishing the remaining houses connected the encroached land," helium added.
The District Commissioner said the territory medication engaged capable information unit and utilized dozens of excavators on with scores of tractors during the eviction exercise.
"We person divided the country into 5 blocks, and successful lone 1 block, immoderate radical are inactive there. In the different blocks, 80% of the radical person left," helium added.
Mr. Timung said that the eviction thrust is underway arsenic per the Gauhati High Court directives, with 3 petitions regarding the cognition heard earlier by the Court.
Another elder authoritative said the alleged encroachers are mostly from the Bengali-speaking Muslim community. Abdul Karim, 1 of the affected people, claimed that the radical successful the country person been surviving determination for respective decades.
"If we were encroachers, wherefore did the authorities springiness america energy lines, toilets, and different facilities? We person Aadhaar cards and each onshore documents, but inactive we are being treated arsenic outsiders," helium said. Special Chief Secretary (Forest) M.K. Yadava claimed that the evicted country falls nether the elephant corridor and clearing of the onshore from encroachment volition assistance trim man-animal conflict.
Since the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led authorities came to powerfulness successful 2021, it has carried retired a bid of evictions to wide alleged encroachments connected land, mostly affecting the Bengali-speaking Muslim population.
On November 3, the Assam Chief Minister asserted that eviction drives to wide encroachments volition continue, and "illegal Miyas" cannot person bid nether his government.
'Miya' is primitively a pejorative word utilized for Bengali-speaking Muslims successful Assam, and the non-Bengali-speaking radical mostly place them arsenic Bangladeshi immigrants.
In caller years, activists from the assemblage person started adopting this word arsenic a motion of defiance.
On July 21, the CM had said that 1.29 lakh bighas (over 42,500 acres) person been cleared of encroachment successful the past 4 years, and astir 29 lakh bighas (more than 9.5 lakh acres) of onshore are inactive encroached successful the State.
The CM had claimed that these immense amounts of onshore were nether encroachment of "illegal Bangladeshis and doubtful citizens" successful the State.
