Massive eviction drive launched in Golaghat district

The Assam government on Tuesday launched a massive eviction drive targeting over 1500 Muslim families residing at Uriamghat in Golaghat district and cleared 11,000 bighas of land, which the administration claimed they had encroached upon.
Authorities deployed a large number of police and forest protection force personnel, along with over 150 excavators. A senior forest department official told TNIE that ‘more than 20 per cent’ of the land was cleared.
A majority of the “settlers” had vacated the place after receiving notices from the government. Inspector General of Police Akhilesh Kumar Singh, who was at the site, told the media that shops and houses, built in the reserve forest areas, were demolished.
“We gave police protection. There are also forest protection force personnel. We received the support of locals. Law and order situation is under control,” Singh said.
“A lot of the illegal settlers had left the place over the past few days after receiving notices. It was explained to them that they cannot stay inside the reserve forest anymore. They were convinced,” he further said.
Stating that the area is sufficiently secured, he said the drive would continue. An estimated 15,000 people, mostly Muslims, were affected by the drive. Vast swathes of the land had betel nut plantations.
“Around 2,000 families are living in those areas. Out of them, notices were served to about 1,500 families, who illegally settled here. The remaining families are forest dwellers and have certificates from the Forest Rights Committee (FRC),” an official was quoted as saying by PTI.
The families whose houses are being demolished belong to the Muslim community, while those having FRC certificates are from Bodo, Nepali, Manipuri and other communities, he added.
“Around 80 per cent of the families who had received notices have already vacated their illegal settlements in the last few days. We are only demolishing their homes,” the official added.
Contrary to government claims that the area was encroached, the demolished properties include houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G), water connection under Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), government schools under Sarba Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) and electricity connections to almost every household, besides markets, mosques, madrassas and churches, according to locals.
The affected families questioned the rationale of the eviction drive and claimed that they were brought to the place by the earlier governments to protect the area from the alleged invasion of Nagaland.
“Where will we go from here? My father had come from Nagaon district around 40 years ago, but I was born here. We were brought here during the 1980s to protect the forest land from encroachment from Nagaland,” said Ali Kazi, who also received an eviction notice.
The families whose houses are being demolished belong to the Muslim community, while those from Bodo, Nepali, Manipuri and other communities were exempted, citing possession of FRC certificates.
He claimed that most of the alleged encroachers’ previous generation was settled in the forest area by the Janata Party government, headed by ex-CM Golap Borbora, in 1978-79 and the first AGP government, which came to power in 1985.
Notably, the assembly was informed in March that almost 83,000 hectares of land belonging to Assam were being occupied by four neighbouring states.
Kazi claimed, “We have been cooperating with the authorities in this eviction drive. We requested them to settle us somewhere else, but they refused. We now have no option but to stay under tents. We are not even given drinking water; forget about food. It’s very inhuman.”
Another eviction victim, Mamtaj Ali, asked, “If we were illegal settlers, how did we get electricity connections? Why did the government open schools and give us JJM connections? We were also given houses under PM Awas Yojana.”
When asked about these government infrastructure, a senior official of the forest department accepted that such facilities were provided by the authorities, and some of these installations were made even after 2016 when the BJP came to power for the first time in Assam.
“I do not know why these were sanctioned and established in this area. These were made before I came here,” he added.
There were mosques and madrassa for people belonging to the Muslim community, while churches were set up by the Bodo people, the official said.
The massive eviction drive followed chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s recent visit to Uriamghat.
“People of Assam are victims of the mass scale encroachment, demographic alteration and violence which is caused by illegal settlers. They are firmly behind our Govt in our crackdown against encroachment and realise the need to reclaim what’s truly ours,” Sarma posted on X on July 29
Earlier this month, the Assam government had carried out major eviction drives in Lakhimpur, Goalpara and Dhubri districts which displaced thousands of Muslims.