Gauhati High Court: Execute eviction at the earliest

AMCHANG WILDLIFE SANCTUARY

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court has asked Dispur to execute the eviction process in Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary. The High Court has also sought the status report on the demarcation exercise in the sanctuary by November 3, 2021.

The division bench of the Gauhati High Court, comprising Justice Kotiswar Singh and Justice Manish Choudhury, heard a writ petition (C/415/2018) recently. The Bench said, "Considering the nature of the issue involved in evicting encroachers from Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary, which is pending for a long time and since the government has already initiated concrete steps, it will be desirable to execute the eviction process at the earliest.

Accordingly, let the respondent authority file the status report on November 3, 2021, as regards the timeline of the demarcation exercise which has been initiated."

In mid-2017, the government evicted around 700 families, dismantled schools, houses and other structures in the sanctuary. There was a hue and cry as most of the evicted encroachers were indigenous people. Some of the evicted people moved the court and got the eviction drive stalled.

Of late, the High Court asked the State Chief Secretary to submit a status report on the steps taken to demarcate Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary.

According to a report from the State Government, Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary got declared in 2004 with Amchang Reserve Forest, South Amchang Forest and Khanapara Forest. Due to the lack of proper demarcation 37 revenue villages got included in the sanctuary. Taking that advantage, people encroached upon the land in the sanctuary. As if to cap it all, the encroached areas got power connections. After that, schools, industries and other structures sprang up in the areas.

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