Assam: Gauhati HC stays Sonapur eviction drive till September 30, 2024

Goalpara administration is ready for massive eviction in RF

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court stayed the Kochutoli eviction drive in the Sonapur area till September 30, 2024. On the other hand, the Goalpara district administration is ready to start a massive drive to evict encroachers from Bandarmatha Reserve Forest (RF) in the district. Meanwhile, the Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Mancha (BJSM) urged the state government to evict all illegal settlers from tribal belts and blocks, not Muslims only.

The district administration served notices to a few families, giving them time for three days to vacate their houses in the Kochutoli area. Challenging the notices, two writ petitions were filed in the Gauhati High Court. The court heard the writ petition yesterday and today. The petitioners produced land documents that they had been residing in the Kachutoli area even before its declaration as a tribal belt. The bench said that the district administration should have verified the documents before serving the eviction notices. The court asked the district administration to collect all documents by September 30, 2024, and put on hold the eviction derive till then.

The BJSM, on the other hand, said that the high court has already asked the state government to free tribal belts and blocks from illegal settlers. The BJSM urged the state government to evict all illegal settlers from tribal belts and blocks, regardless of the settlers’ religion. 

Meanwhile, the Goalpara district administration is fully prepared to conduct a massive drive to evict encroachers from Bandarmatha RF. Fifty-five hectares of land have been under the encroachment of around 200 families. Despite several notices, the encroachers refused to vacate the land. This time, the district administration is ready to carry out the eviction drive strictly. It has already issued notices to the encroachers. While a few families have already vacated the area, the district administration has started flag marches in the area so as to make the eviction drive on September 24 and 25 free from any untoward incident.

The Gauhati High did take a suo moto PIL in 2022 on the encroachment of Bandarmatha RF affecting the movement of elephants. The high court asked the government to free the RF from encroachers. However, the eviction drive is not yet complete.

Also Read: Assam: Eviction Drive Turns Deadly; Two Killed, Several Injured in Sonapur Clash (sentinelassam.com)

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