Assam govt evicts 230 families in second phase of Rengma forest drive

The Assam government, on August 26, carried out an eviction drive inside the Rengma Reserve Forest in Golaghat district, displacing nearly 230 families and clearing several hectares of land from alleged encroachers, officials said.

The operation was part of the second phase of the eviction exercise, which began on August 18 to remove encroachments from about 26 hectares of forest land. It had been temporarily halted earlier as the families had not vacated their settlements, a senior official said.

"The second phase of the eviction operation in Golaghat district was successfully carried out today, targeting illegal encroachments in No. 1 Madhupur, Rana Nagar and Hatidubi areas of the Rengma Reserve Forest," an official release said.

During the operation, authorities demolished 80 households in Madhupur, 44 in Rana Nagar and 104 in Hatidubi. They also dismantled numerous unauthorised structures spread across "several hectares of notified forest land".

"Prior notices had been issued to the encroachers and the process was carried out in a transparent manner to minimise disruption. This phase marks a significant step in reclaiming encroached forest areas and restoring the ecological balance of the reserve," the statement said.

The drive was monitored by senior functionaries, including Special Chief Secretary (Forest) M K Yadava, and senior representatives from the Forest Department, CRPF, Assam Police and district administration.

"This operation reflects the state government's firm stance on enforcing forest protection laws and reclaiming encroached land," it 

The administration had completed a five-day-long first phase of the massive eviction drive at Rengma in Uriamghat along the Assam-Nagaland border in Sarupathar sub-division on August 2 and cleared around 9,000 bighas (over 1,200 hectares) of land from encroachments, affecting around 1,500 families, mostly from the Muslim community.

Extensive eviction drives were carried out across stretches of both the Rengma and Doyang Reserve Forests, successfully clearing large tracts of encroached land. In total, more than 1,400 hectares of protected forest land were reclaimed.

The government also carried out an eviction drive in Nambor South Reserve Forest in Golaghat earlier this month and cleared alleged encroachment from nearly 1,000 bighas (over 133 hectares) of forest land, displacing more than 350 families.