Eviction drives in Assam’s Nagaon, Golaghat and Hojai districts are forcing families to leave reserved forest areas. Notices have been issued to hundreds of households, raising concerns over rehabilitation and livelihoods.
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Assam: For most families, this is the season of coming home. For hundreds in Assam’s Nagaon, Hojai and Golaghat districts, it has become the season of leaving it. Eviction drives in reserved forest areas of the two districts are moving ahead on Saturday, leaving many unsure where they will go.
In Nagaon’s Kampur, the administration has been carrying out evictions in the Borpani Reserve Forest. Notices had been served on 336 families asking them to leave, but a section of them are still living in the area. The drive begins today in No. 2 Negheribil, Golaghat, where the Forest Department has already directed 59 families to vacate their homes. The order was announced by loudspeaker on Friday. Anxiety gripped the 59 families who had earlier obtained a stay on eviction.
The area is close to Lutumari, where Nagaon authorities carried out a much larger drive last year. That drive was conducted in compliance with a Gauhati High Court directive and covered roughly 5,962 bighas, and the administration assured relief and rehabilitation for the affected families. Forest officials said then that once Lutumari and about 1,600 bighas in Borpani were cleared, the district would get significant relief from human-elephant conflict.
In Hojai district’s Doboka area, a fresh drive is planned in the Jamuna-Moudanga Reserve Forest. The administration has issued directions to 152 families to vacate, and the operation aims to clear 525 bighas of land. Some of the families have already begun leaving their homes in the dead of night following the directive.
This is not the first drive in the forest. In January this year, 5,250 bighas were cleared in Jamuna Moudanga, which the state government described as complete reclamation of the encroached area. Over 1,000 families were evicted at that time. Before that drive, the Forest Department said that while some families had moved out voluntarily, most had stayed, citing the lack of clarity on rehabilitation and livelihood options.
For the families still in these areas, the main question is where they will go, and how soon.
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