Assam begins drive to raze over 2.6K encroachments

The Assam government on Tuesday launched a massive eviction drive in the Rengma forest area of Golaghat district bordering Nagaland to demolish over 2,600 alleged encroachments spread over 1,500 hectares of forest land, officials aware of the matter said.

- Biswa Kalyan Purkayastha

The move is set to affect at least 3,000 to 4,000 families.

‘According to forest officials, a total of 2,648 illegal houses, spread across 12 villages within the reserve forest area, have been marked for eviction. “On the first day, over 4.2 hectares of the encroached land, which included 50 concrete residential structures and nearly 200 small and medium-sized business establishments, was cleared,” an official said.