Assam Launches Drive to Clear 2,600+ Encroachments

Fast Summary

• The Assam government launched an eviction drive in the Rengma forest area of Golaghat district, targeting over 2,600 alleged encroachments spread across 1,500 hectares of forest land.
• at least 3,000 to 4,000 families are expected to be affected by the demolition.
• On the first day of operations, authorities cleared approximately 4.2 hectares of land that included 50 concrete residential structures and nearly 200 small-to-medium business establishments.
• The eviction process spans villages such as Sonaribil, Pithaghat, Dayalpur, Kherbari, among others – all Muslim-dominated areas.
• More than 2,000 Assam Police personnel and around 500 forest guards where deployed to ensure law and order during the operations.
• this is part of a series of similar drives since July; previous ones covered Dhubri and Goalpara districts. While earlier protests occurred in these regions during evictions as July began but no critically important resistance has been reported yet in Uriamghat.
• Some residents claim long-term settlement dating back decades with documents such as voter ID and Aadhaar cards; others say their families moved here decades ago under state encouragement to protect land from external encroachment.

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