The Assam government on Sunday demolished the homes of more than 600 Muslim families in the Lutumari Longjap Reserve Forest in Nagaon district, claiming that the residents had encroached on forest land. The demolition drive entered its second day amid continuing evictions across the state.
A senior forest official told Scroll that more than 600 families were affected by Sunday’s operation. On Saturday, 547 families were evicted from three districts, including Nagaon, Golaghat and Hojai, according to government officials cited by the publication. Most of those affected were Bengali Muslims.
Of the 547 families evicted on Saturday, 336 were in Nagaon, 59 in Golaghat and 152 in Hojai.
Residents Say Government Settled Them on the Land
Families affected by the demolition in Lutumari said they had lived on more than 300 hectares of land in the reserve forest for decades and disputed the administration’s claim that they were encroachers.
Abdul Noor, a 44-year-old resident whose house was demolished on Sunday, told Scroll that the government had settled landless families in the area in 1974.
“We are originally from nearby Juria town but were settled by the government as our forefathers were landless. Altogether, 300 landless families were given four bighas of land each,” Noor said.
He added that the residents had challenged the eviction in the Gauhati High Court but had not received relief.
Noor also said that more than 10 mosques, some of which were over 50 years old, had been demolished during the drive. He said many residents had worked as labourers for the Forest Department.
Forest Rights Organisation Had Urged Government to Halt Eviction
In June, the All India Union of Forest Working People urged the Assam government to halt the planned eviction of villagers from the Lutumari Longjap Reserve Forest.
The organisation argued that residents of four villages, Kandarpa Longjap, Padumoni, Hatijur and No. 9 Kheroni, had been settled under the taungya system of forest management and should not be treated as ordinary encroachers.
Under the taungya system, communities cultivated food crops alongside commercially valuable trees while working for the Forest Department. Introduced during British colonial rule in the 19th century, the system was later used in parts of Assam.
The residents’ claims about their settlement history and the legal status of their land remain central to the dispute over the eviction drive.
Thousands of Families Evicted During BJP Rule
According to data from Assam’s Revenue and Disaster Management Department and district authorities compiled by Scroll, around 19,000 families have been evicted from government land in the state over the past decade of Bharatiya Janata Party rule. The majority of those affected were Muslims.
