On Saturday, authorities in Assam’s Goalpara district removed over 1,000 families from 140 hectares of land in the Paikan Reserve Forest. Most of those evicted were Bengali-origin Muslims who had been living in the area for years.
“This is a forest land that has been encroached upon. We are clearing 149 hectares. Around 2,700 structures were demolished today,” said Goalpara’s District Forest Officer, Tejash Mariswamy, while speaking to Scroll. He added that the eviction was carried out after a deadline passed on July 10, as per orders from the High Court. “Goalpara district has recorded the highest number of human-elephant conflicts in the country. The court directed us to remove all encroachments to protect wildlife and restore the ecosystem.”
The eviction drive focused mainly on two areas, Bidyapara and Betbari, under the Krishnai range. The administration had earlier issued notices asking people to leave voluntarily, but when many stayed, bulldozers and heavy police forces were sent in. Over 1,000 police personnel and 40 bulldozers were deployed to carry out the demolition.
Mizanur Rahman, a 28-year-old from Bidyapara village, said his entire family of eight is now homeless. “All of our three houses, including a concrete one, were destroyed. We have nowhere to go. We’ve been living here even before it was declared a reserve forest,” he said. “This is a revenue village.”
The government proposed Paikan as a reserve forest in 1959, but it was only officially declared as one in 1982. Locals argue that their claims over the land were never properly considered. In 2022, the Goalpara Lawyers Association submitted a memorandum to the government stating that many forest rights claims had not been settled, and that people were being removed without following legal procedures. “Thousands became landless due to erosion by the Brahmaputra river,” said Wazed Ali, secretary of the lawyers’ body. “These people had no option but to take shelter in this forest land.”
One man reportedly attempted to take his own life during the eviction but was stopped by a family member and taken to the hospital.
Meanwhile, opposition leaders have strongly criticized the government. Eight MLAs from the AIUDF protested near the eviction site. “These villages are mentioned in the 1951 NRC. People here have voter IDs, electricity, roads, schools, water projects. Can all this exist on forest land?” asked AIUDF MLA Hafiz Rafikul Islam. “How can these people be called encroachers?”
This is the second major eviction in Goalpara this month. On June 16, the homes of 690 families in the Hasilabeel wetland were demolished. Eviction drives have also taken place in Dhubri, Nalbari, and Lakhimpur districts, displacing thousands—mostly Bengali-origin Muslims.
In Dhubri, where 1,400 families lost their homes last week, the government offered land for rehabilitation and a one-time payment of ₹50,000 to help with shifting belongings. But no such offer has yet been made in Goalpara.
According to official data, over 10,620 families have been evicted from government land in Assam between 2016 and August 2024. Most of them are Muslim.
