Around 1,200 homes belonging to Bengali Muslim families were demolished in an eviction drive carried out earlier this week in Assam’s Sonitpur district.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the evictions, conducted on January 5 and 6, were aimed at clearing alleged encroachments from nearly 650 hectares of land inside the Burhachapori Wildlife Sanctuary.
According to PTI, the eviction drive was carried out in areas falling under the Tezpur Sadar and Dhekiajuli revenue circles, including Jamuktol, Arimari, Siyalichar, Baghetapu, Galatidubi, Lathimari, Kundulichar, Purba Dubramari and Batulichar.
Officials claimed that the alleged encroachers had constructed houses and cultivated crops inside the wildlife sanctuary. Ahead of the drive, many residents dismantled their homes and left the area on their own. However, several families stayed back due to the severe cold and requested the authorities to allow them time to harvest their crops.
Despite these requests, the administration went ahead with the evictions. Sonitpur district commissioner Ananda Kumar Das said the occupants were illegally staying in forest areas and would not be excused from the ongoing eviction drive even during the winter season.
In February, the Assam administration had cleared 2,099 hectares of land in the wildlife sanctuary and surrounding villages in one of the largest eviction drives in the state.
Since the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in Assam in 2016, several demolition and eviction drives have been conducted across districts, largely affecting areas inhabited by Bengali-speaking Muslims. Sarma claimed on Monday that the government has reclaimed close to 1.5 lakh bighas of land through these drives, Northeast Now reported.
Many displaced families have said they had been living in the evicted areas for decades. They claimed their ancestors settled there after losing land in riverine regions due to erosion caused by the Brahmaputra river.
In July last year, one person was killed, and several others were injured after police opened fire on protesters during clashes at the site of an eviction drive in the Betbari area of Goalpara district.
On Saturday, Sarma said that more than 5,000 bighas of land had been cleared of encroachments in the Jamuna Maudanga Reserve Forest in Hojai district. He asserted that illegal occupation of forest and government land would not be tolerated.
The Jamuna Maudanga Reserve Forest spans over 8,000 bighas, of which 5,250 bighas were allegedly under illegal occupation by more than 1,500 families belonging to the minority community, according to the state government.
In a post on X, Sarma wrote that the mission to reclaim land at the reserve forest had been completed through what he described as peaceful and lawful action. He added that no further warnings would be given against illegal encroachment.
Hojai district commissioner Bidyut Bikash Bhagawati said some occupants claimed they had been living on the land for over three decades, while others said they had settled there around 20 years ago. The district administration said the families owned land outside the forest area in other parts of Hojai and neighbouring districts, and had occupied forest land mainly for cultivation.
Since coming to power in 2021, the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led government has intensified eviction drives across Assam, which have disproportionately affected the Bengali-speaking Muslim population. On New Year’s Day, the chief minister said that 1.45 lakh bighas of forest and government land had been freed from encroachment over the past five years.
