ASSAM: The Assam government on Thursday evicted 114 families who had allegedly encroached on village grazing reserve (VGR) and cleared 78.21 acres (237 bighas) in Lakhimpur district, officials said.
The eviction drive in Phukondoli village under Naoboicha revenue circle was conducted under heavy security cover.
The families were served notices on July 31, and most of the people had cleared their belongings, with 25 per cent of them already leaving the village, a district official said.
The village was in a low-lying area, and the settlers had allegedly dug up ponds for carrying out fishery business with each family earning Rs 5 to 10 lakh annually, he said.
Some of the villagers claimed that they had land rights and had lived there for more than two decades, but the district authorities said the area was declared a VGR many decades ago.
The evicted families belonged to Bengali-speaking Muslim community.
This was the eighth eviction drive carried out in the state since June by the state government.
The largest of these took place last week at Uriamghat in Golaghat district, where 1,500 hectares of forest land were cleared, displacing around 1,500 families.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma earlier claimed over 160 sq km of land had been cleared of encroachments since his government took over in May 2021, affecting around 50,000 people.
The CM had also said all unauthorised occupation of forest land, VGR, professional grazing reserve, satras, namghars, and other public areas would be cleared in a phased manner.
Most of the people displaced due to the eviction drives are Bengali-speaking Muslims, who claim that their ancestors had moved and settled in the areas where drives were carried out after their land in the Char' or riverine areas was washed away due to erosion by the Brahmaputra.