Assam: Next Round of Evictions to be Carried Out in Lakhimpur

GUWAHATI: After clearing the alleged encroachers of the Satra properties in the Nagaon district of Assam, they are now looking at clearing the people out of forest regions under the Pava Reserve Forest of the Lakhimpur district of Assam.

Superintendent of Police for the Lakhimpur district, Bedanta Madhab Rajkhowa announced that more than 3738 bighas of the forest area in the district will be cleared on Tuesday. He informed that about 100 families will be affected by this eviction procedure.

More than 600 members of the Assam Police as well as the Central Reserve Police Force are deployed for this operation by the state machinery. To make sure that no hiccups are experienced during the whole incident, a mock drill was also conducted by the police forces on Sunday.

"We are prepared to conduct the drive in a smooth and peaceful manner," mentioned the SP.

Reports mentioned that out of the notified 19138 bighas of the Pava Reserve Forest of the Lakhimpur district, only about 217 bighas now remain completely free from encroachment. According to a report, a part of this encroached forest area falling under the Adhasona and Mohaguli villages of the district will come under the first phase of evictions.

Reportedly more than 700 families have illegally encroached into the protected Pava Reserve forest and this has caused several problems in the region. These include rapid deforestation, soil erosion and severe flooding in the region. About 80 families have vacated the region after the authorities issued the notification of eviction, while 100 more are still occupying the land.

The state government has already carried out multiple major evictions in different locations of the state to clear illegal encroachment of land. The latest one was the eviction in the Nagaon district wherein reportedly more than 5000 people were evicted.

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