Assam starts evicting ‘encroachers’ from forest land; Cong cries foul

The Assam government on Tuesday began clearing nearly 1,900 hectares of forest and government land in Sonitpur district, affecting 12,000-odd people who were allegedly staying there illegally for decades, a senior official said. In the fourth such drive in two months, the Sonitpur district administration started the exercise under heavy security to clear “encroached” land in Burachapori Wildlife Sanctuary (BWS) and nearby revenue villages on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra river in central Assam.

While most of the occupants, predominantly Bengali-speaking Muslims, had left their houses after receiving notices in the last few weeks, some were in the process to vacate their premises when the eviction drive started, some of the affected families said. Asserting that they were never told by anyone that the areas they were living in fell under forest or government land, the “encroachers” claimed they received benefits from various state and central schemes.

The opposition Congress slammed the BJP-led government over the eviction drive, claiming that many of the affected families are entitled to have land rights as per the Forest Rights Act, 2006. Sonitpur Deputy Commissioner Deba Kumar Mishra told PTI that thousands of people “illegally occupied” the forest and nearby areas for decades and the administration has decided to clear 1,892 hectares during the ongoing exercise till Thursday.

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"Out of this, 1,401 hectares fall under the BWS and the remaining 491 hectares is government land. In the forest, 1,758 families were living, comprising 6,965 people," he said. According to the latest survey, 755 families comprising 4,645 people were residing on the government land, the official said, adding that the exercise has been peaceful so far and there is no opposition.

Mishra said, "We discovered that this area was never surveyed and people were in confusion if their villages fall under Nagaon or Sonitpur district. Government schools, Anganwadi centres, mosques and other structures were built by people who thought it is Nagaon district." The schools and other government institutions will be attached to nearby such centres in non-encroached land in the coming days so that education and welfare measures are not affected, he added.

Over 1,700 personnel from Assam Police and CRPF along with people from civil administration and forest department are engaged in the exercise. Around 100 bulldozers, excavators and tractors were used to demolish the structures and clear the land, the DC said. Senior Congress MLA Rakibul Hussain told PTI that the government is carrying out the eviction drive to deviate people from real economic issues like hiked electricity tariffs, price rise and unemployment.

"Besides, many of these people should get land rights. As per the Forest Rights Act, tribal people get land rights if they live in a forest for 10 years. In the case of non-tribal people, they get rights if three generations live in a forest," he asserted. Hussain, who was the forest minister during the Congress regime, claimed that not a single person was allowed to settle in the Burachapori area during his tenure as alleged by the ruling BJP.

The evicted victims also claimed that they were living in that area for nearly three decades without knowing that it is forest or government land. "I moved to this place in the mid-90s after our village was washed away in flood. My son was born here, got an education and now earns a living by farming in this place. After this eviction, we have been made homeless again," Aminul Haque said.

He claimed that their villagers have electricity and roads provided by the government. Isfakur Ali said that around 10 bigha (1.34 hectares) of land that is full of vegetables have been destroyed by tractors. While collecting her remaining items from the demolished house, Firoza Begum claimed, "The administration said that they would start eviction from February 20. We made all arrangements as per that schedule. But suddenly without any intimation, they arrived today and started demolishing our houses. This is cruel."

After the eviction exercise is over, the Forest Department will start an afforestation drive and plant thousands of saplings, an official said. Spread across 44.06 sq km, the BWS is located around 180 km east of Guwahati. The protected forest forms an integral part of the Laokhowa-Burachapori ecosystem and is a notified buffer zone of the Kaziranga National Park & Tiger Reserve.

It is home to one-horned rhinoceros, tiger, leopard, wild buffalo, hog deer, wild pig and elephants. Burachapori's bird list on the other hand includes the highly endangered Bengal Florican, Black-necked Stork, Mallard, Open billed Stork, Teal and Whistling Duck among others.

It has been a reserve forest since 1974 and it was declared a wildlife sanctuary in 1995. The drive in Burachapori is the fourth major eviction exercise in Assam within two months. The other exercises were carried out in Nagoan and Barpeta in December, and in Lakhimpur district in January.