GUWAHATI, Nov 8: The Assam government on Monday undertook a two-day eviction drive to clear a 500-hectare area allegedly encroached by illegal settlers inside Lumding Reserve Forest in Hojai district.
The move comes in the wake of a directive by the Gauhati High Court in September asking the state government to conduct the eviction drive against illegal encroachers in the forest areas.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, while informing reporters here, said that about 1000 persons have voluntarily vacated the area by afternoon itself.
Disclosing details, the chief minister said an FIR has been lodged against a person identified as Nazrul, who reportedly has been running a turmeric crop syndicate on government-owned land since the year 2012, and is currently absconding.
According to reports, Nazrul had employed a number of people for cultivation of the crop after bribing forest, police officials and even political leaders.
“When we asked the people who had settled there, they said they came from Nagaon, Barpeta and Dhubri districts and were brought by Nazrul. Over the years, many trees were felled in the forest area and crops worth Rs 25 crore was cultivated every year,” the chief minister said.
“Once he is arrested, more persons engaged in the syndicate could be interrogated,” he said.
The Assam government had deployed about 1000 police and CRPF personnel to carry out the eviction drive smoothly.
The Gauhati High Court, while hearing a petition filed by BJP leader Shiladitya Deb, directed the Assam government to clear the encroachment in the reserve forest in a phased manner.
Reportedly, the government will clear about 500 out of 1,410 hectares of encroached land of the forest on Monday and Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the district administration is taking resort to domesticated elephants and equipment such as JCBs to carry out the eviction drive.
Sources said that nearly all families, who were prior to the eviction drive counseled by the district administration to voluntarily vacate the forest area, left the encroached area by afternoon.
It may be mentioned that two persons were killed, and several others, including policemen, were injured in clashes at Gorukhuti under the Sipajhar revenue circle in Darrang district on September 23 after an eviction drive turned violent.
In July, the state government had allocated Rs 9.60 crore for an agricultural project (known as the Gorukhuti project) to be set up at Gorukhuti.
The objective of the project is to carry out agriculture and afforestation activities by “engaging indigenous youths” after clearing the area from encroachment.