The Bengali-speaking Muslims who were being evicted resented their inability to collect all of their possessions...
Digital Desk: On Wednesday, the effort to remove encroachers from a forest site in the Lakhimpur district of Assam proceeded for a second day, leaving 299 households living on a 250-hectare stretch without a home.
The Bengali-speaking Muslims who were being evicted grieved because of their inability to retrieve all of their possessions and the damage the drive had done to their crops.
The state started the exercise on Tuesday to clear about 450 hectares of Pava Reserve Forest. 200 hectares of the 201-family Mohghuli village were cleared by officials on the first day.
"Today at 7.30 am, the eviction drive resumed back again. So far, it has been tranquil. We have not encountered any opposition " stated a district administration senior official.
According to the official, over 70 bulldozers, excavators, and tractors were deployed in Adhasona village while 200 civic authorities and 600 members of the CRPF and police kept watch.
Tractors and bulldozers were used by the authorities to level the crops.
The ponds and fisheries were also earthened by the excavators.
The All Assam Minority Students' Union (AAMSU) denounced the eviction campaign as "inhuman and one-sided" and organised a small demonstration in the Lakhimpur district's Sonapur neighbourhood.
The senior official claimed that since November 2021, the "illegal settlers" have received numerous orders to leave the property.
"We gave them the final warning and requested that they stop growing crops on September 7 of last year, but they disregarded our request. The evicted land is perpetually flooded in the summer, and the encroachers only plant crops there in the winter "He emphasised.
The official said that the "encroachers" had been approached personally by the circle officer of Naoboicha last year and requested to leave willingly.
One of those impacted by the campaign, Rahima Khatun, claimed that agriculture was their sole source of livelihood.
"The area where the drive was taking place has neither a mosque nor a school; instead, agriculture is the main usage of these areas. Our survival is now in jeopardy," she added.
Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Ashok Kumar Dev Choudhury of Lakhimpur found that only 0.32 square kilometres of the 46 square kilometres Pava Reserve Forest were unoccupied.
Over the past three decades, he claimed, 701 households had taken over land belonging to the Pava Reserve Forest.
These residents applied to have their settlement designated as a "Forest Village" in 2006, but the government denied their request at the time.
84 families submitted documents in July of last year claiming to own land, but closer examination revealed that they were fraudulent.
"There will be no indication of anything in the forest if someone goes there. It has been changed into a community where people are farming. Due to this invasion over the past three decades, Pava, formerly noted for its wild buffaloes, has lost all of its wildlife " the DFO stated.
The Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awas Yojana, MGNREGA, Anganwadi centres, water provision, and rural electrification are notable examples of state and federal programmes that have been implemented in this region over time.
According to Choudhary, a plan for 200 hectares of land to be planted with trees has been authorised by the state administration.
"We had also submitted a plan for reforestation on the 250 more hectares. We anticipate the government's approval in the days to come " he Added .
The affected villagers, on the other hand, stated that "arbitrary marking" was done to delimit the boundary before the eviction effort and that the demarcation pillars of Pava Reserve Forest had been shifted numerous times, particularly since 2017.
Some of the victims also asserted that the 500 Hindu families that lived on the property were unaffected by the raid.
One of them stated that the "government must expel them too" if it is truly worried about encroachment.
The senior official claimed that in 2016, the Hindu families—the majority of whom belonged to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes—had sought the court to receive rehabilitation.
In Assam, this is the third major eviction drive in a month. As it uprooted more than 5,000 accused encroachers, the exercise in Nagoan's Batadrava on December 19 has been hailed as one of the largest in the area. On December 26, another exercise to remove 400 bighas in Barpeta was conducted in its wake.
Since taking office in May 2021 under the leadership of Himanta Biswa Sarma, the state has seen numerous eviction drives.
Despite criticism from the opposition, Sarma had stated to the Assembly on December 21 that Assam's eviction drives to clear government and forest lands would continue as long as the BJP is in power.
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