RABITA ISLAMIC NEWS AGENCY

The authorities in Assam’s Nagaon district on Saturday launched an eviction drive to clear encroachments from 795 hectares of reserved forest land, where about 1,500 families – all of them Bengali-speaking Muslims – had been living.

 

The eviction was carried out in the Lutimari area of the Nagaon district.The administration had issued notices three months ago directing the families to leave the area within two months, PTI reported. The families had asked for an additional month to vacate the area, to which the administration agreed, the news agency quoted an unidentified official as saying.

 

When the demolition drive took place on Saturday, more than 1,100 families had already dismantled their homes and left with their belongings. The remaining homes were demolished in the drive, the official told the news agency.

 

The Assam Tribune quoted one of the evicted residents as saying that they did not have a place to stay after the drive. “It would have been better if the government had provided a place for us,” the individual said. “We left voluntarily as per the order, and we want rehabilitation.”Forest Department Special Chief Secretary MK Yadava said that clearing the encroachments from the area would help curb human-elephant conflict on the forest land, the Assam Tribune reported.Since the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in Assam in 2016, multiple demolition drives have been conducted across districts, mostly targeting areas populated by Bengali-speaking Muslims.

 

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has claimed that since he took over the post in May 2021, over 160 square kilometres of land had been freed from encroachments.

 

Many of those displaced have claimed that their families had been living in the areas for decades, and that their ancestors had settled in the areas after their lands in riverine areas were washed away because of erosion by the Brahmaputra river.

(SCROLL.IN)