Guwahati: Assam’s Goalpara District officials confirmed on Friday that nearly 95% of alleged encroachers have vacated over 1,000 bighas of forest land in Paikan Reserve Forest ahead of a scheduled eviction drive.
Goalpara Deputy Commissioner Khanindra Choudhury reported that the district administration stands ready to support the forest department’s operation.
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“Around 90–95% of the settlers have already moved out, dismantling their makeshift establishments and taking their belongings. Only permanent or brick structures remain,” he said.
Originally scheduled for Friday, the eviction drive was delayed by a day to accommodate Friday prayers in the Muslim-majority area, an adjustment Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had announced earlier in the week.
Goalpara Divisional Forest Officer Tejas Mariswamy explained that the operation will remove encroachments on approximately 1,040 bighas under the Krishnai Forest Range.
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He noted that about 1,080 families occupy the reserve and that authorities first issued vacate notices in November–December last year, followed by new orders in June directing residents to leave by July 10.
Since 2023, the district administration has cleared settlements from some 650 hectares across four forest ranges and removed farms from about 450 hectares.
Meanwhile, eviction drives have gained momentum across Assam; this week alone, officials evicted roughly 1,100 families from 3,500 bighas in Dhubri’s Charuwa Bakra, Chirakuta, and Santoshpur villages to make way for a 3,400?MW thermal power plant by the Adani Group.
That operation encountered resistance, including damage to excavators and attacks on police, prompting security forces to use baton charges to restore order.
Chief Minister Sarma emphasized on Thursday that eviction drives will continue. He pointed to more than 25,000 acres of forest land cleared over the past four years and noted that the Gauhati High Court has ordered the state to remove encroachments, provided displaced families can access drinking water and basic amenities.
In response, the Congress party criticized the state government’s eviction policy and pledged that, if it comes to power, it will compensate any Indian citizen displaced by eviction drives during the BJP’s tenure.