Image is for representational purposes only. File | Photo credit: PTI
GUWAHATI
The Assam government on Sunday (November 9, 2025) resumed its eviction in Assam’s west Goalpara, affecting about 580 families.
District Commissioner Prodip Timung said the exercise to clear 476 acres of encroached land in the Dahikata Reserve Forest met with no resistance. The eviction drive will continue on Monday.
“All the 580 families who occupied the forest were issued a notice to vacate the area more than 15 days ago. Most of these settlers left after receiving the notice,” he said.
Mr. Timung said the local authorities have deployed adequate security personnel and used dozens of excavators to demolish illegal structures in the affected area as per the guidelines of the Gauhati High Court.
The affected people, mostly Bengali-speaking Muslims, claimed to have lived in the area for decades and possessed land deeds.
However, senior forest department officials said the area is a reserve forest and a major corridor for elephants.
The eviction comes less than a week after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma vowed to continue removing encroachments and not let “illegal Mija” live in peace during his rule.
Miya is a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam who are also referred to as “Bangladeshis”.
The anti-encroachment drive in Goalpara is the latest in a series of such exercises since Mr Sarma took charge of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in May 2021. Most of those who have been evicted so far are Muslims.
On 21 July, the Chief Minister said that the government has evicted encroachers from over 42,500 acres of land by 2021 and over 9.5 million acres remain to be cleared.
Published – 9 Nov 2025 15:41 IST
