120 structures across 4.2ha forest land razed on Day 1 of Uriamghat eviction
2
Guwahati: On the first day of a massive eviction drive to clear encroachments on forest lands in Rengma Reserve Forest at Uriamghat in Golaghat district on Tuesday morning, bulldozers razed over 100 commercial structures close to the inter-state border with Nagaland.
A govt release on Tuesday said this eviction drive marks a significant step in Assam govt's ongoing efforts to prevent illegal encroachment in protected forest areas and to promote ecological conservation in the region. The target is to clear the entire 11,000 bighas of encroached land in Uriamghat, where, according to officials, about 2,500 families with a population of not less than 12,000 are encroaching forest areas.
A large number of these families are from the central Assam districts of Nagaon and Morigaon, while there are families from north and south Assam districts who claimed to have started settling down in the forest areas of Uriamghat in the 1970s under govt patronage and started cultivation with the Nagas.
Eviction was carried out on Tuesday at Bidyapur Market in Uriamghat, located within the Rengma Reserve Forest. The operation was led by state forest department, with active support from Golaghat district administration and Golaghat police, in close coordination with the govt of Nagaland and Nagaland Police.
"During the drive, about 120 illegal commercial structures spread over approximately 4.2 hectares of forest land were demolished.
This action was part of a concerted effort to reclaim encroached reserve forest land and reinforce the govt's commitment to environmental conservation," the release read.
Over 90% of the families deserted the settlements by Monday night. One after another, houses were bulldozed since morning to restore forest area.
Forest department officials also destroyed betel nut plantations cultivated by the encroachers. There were no reports of any conflict between police and encroachers.
According to local MLA Biswajit Phukan, the encroachment was mostly by 'Miyas', a term used in Assam to refer to migrant Muslims of Bangladesh/East Pakistan origin.
The operation involved large-scale deployment of machinery, forest personnel, and administrative officials.
It was conducted under the supervision of special chief secretary MK Yadava, principal chief conservator of forests, Assam, Golaghat DC, Golaghat senior superintendent of police and other senior officials, including additional district commissioners and executive magistrates. "To ensure smooth and peaceful execution of the operation, an extensive security arrangement was put in place with the involvement of police and CRPF," the release added.
Evicted families alleged that the govt provided electricity connections to them and built houses for the poor under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G). Tap water connection was provided to families in encroached lands under a govt scheme. "There are some govt schools as well on the encroached land, and houses of govt employees have also been razed," a resident said.
While Muslim families alleged that the govt targeted them but spared Nepali, Bodo, and Manipuri families, govt officials said many of those who have not received eviction notices are forest dwellers.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
35 minutes ago
- Time of India
Key documents went missing, original statements were lost
1 2 Mumbai: In the 2008 Malegaon blast case , a special NIA court that acquitted seven accused, including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, heavily scrutinized the prosecution's handling of crucial evidence, particularly the mysterious disappearance of key documents. The core of the court's reasoning revolved around the prosecution's failure to present original statements of crucial witnesses, recorded under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code, and the subsequent mishandling of attempts to introduce secondary evidence. The witnesses, two of whom later turned hostile, claiming coercion by ATS, were connected to conspiracy meetings where conversations purportedly on revenge on Muslims, a separate constitution for a 'Hindu Rashtra' complete with a distinct 'Bhagwa Flag' and formation of a Central Hindu Government ('Aryawart') and the exile govt concept in Israel and Thailand, were held. 39 witnesses in all had turned hostile. The statements recorded before the magistrate are admissible as evidence and have corroborating value and would have aided the prosecution's case against the accused. Statements of 13 witnesses had been recorded by a magistrate during the initial investigation by ATS. The witnesses were related to the accused's participation in the conspiracy meetings. However, it came to light in April 2016 that these critical documents were found to be missing from the court records. Despite several searches, the documents remained untraceable. In Nov 2016, ATS filed an affidavit with court, stating it had three certified photocopies of some of the missing statements and sought permission to use them as secondary evidence. The accused opposed this move. You Can Also Check: Mumbai AQI | Weather in Mumbai | Bank Holidays in Mumbai | Public Holidays in Mumbai On Jan 2, 2017, the special NIA court initially allowed the prosecution to use these copies as secondary evidence. However, this decision was challenged by one of the now-acquitted accused, Sameer Kulkarni, in Bombay high court. In 2019, HC stayed the special court's order, observing that the copies produced by prosecution had not been compared with originals and there was nothing on record to prove they were prepared from the originals. The HC instructed the prosecution to file a fresh application and conduct an inquiry to verify authenticity of copies. Despite this HC directive, the NIA court said the prosecution failed to file a fresh application or conduct the necessary inquiry. Instead, the prosecution proceeded with the trial, merely asking witnesses during their examination if their statements had been recorded under Section 164 of CrPC. While witnesses answered in the affirmative, the court found this to be insufficient. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Friendship Day wishes , messages and quotes !
Time of India
35 minutes ago
- Time of India
Kishan demands Congress govt to scrap Muslim quota
Hyderabad: Union minister G Kishan Reddy on Saturday demanded the Congress govt to implement 42% quota exclusively for Backward Classes (BCs) in Telangana. He alleged that the Congress govt was discussing the BC reservation only to gain political advantage in the upcoming local body elections. "Now, under the proposed 42% quota, 10% is allocated to Muslims, leaving the actual BCs with only 32%," Kishan Reddy said while speaking at a dharna programme organised by the OBC Morcha of BJP at Indira Park on Saturday. The Union minister also alleged that Congress failed to conduct a proper caste survey, especially in Greater Hyderabad. He questioned why Congress did not conduct a caste census when it was in power at the Centre and in the state. "The Congress had never appointed a BC as either Prime Minister or chief minister. However, the BJP made a BC leader as PM, and chief ministers of several states are from BC communities, and included 27 BC ministers in the Union cabinet," he said. You Can Also Check: Hyderabad AQI | Weather in Hyderabad | Bank Holidays in Hyderabad | Public Holidays in Hyderabad He took strong objection to the remarks of chief minister A Revanth Reddy that Narendra Modi was a 'converted BC'. He said that Modi's caste was included under the BC category in Gujarat by the then Congress govt, not by the BJP. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Is it better to shower in the morning or at night? Here's what a microbiologist says CNA Read More Undo "Even Banjaras and Goldsmith were included in the ST and BC categories. Would you call them 'converted STs and BCs too?" Kishan Reddy asked. Meanwhile, BJP state president N Ramchander Rao said the party would oppose reservations based on religion and demanded the scrapping of the 10% quota for Muslims. "The Revanth Reddy govt is trying to politicise the issue of BC reservations by planning a dharna at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, as it is unable to implement the promised 42% BC quota in the state. To cover its inefficiency and failures, the Congress is blaming the Centre and the BJP govt," he said. BJP leaders A Maheshwar Reddy, Eatala Rajender, R Krishnaiah, NVSS Prabhakar, and others spoke at the meeting. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Friendship Day wishes , messages and quotes !
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Why is northeast on edge about Assam evictions?
The story so far: The Assam government's drive to evict encroachers from forestlands has sent alarm bells ringing in other States of the region. Now, States bordering Assam are taking measures to ensure that those evicted from Assam do not cross over. When did the eviction drive start in Assam? The BJP came to power in 2016 by promising to secure jaati (race), maati (land), and bheti (hearth). Based on a Gauhati High Court order to reclaim encroached forestlands, the first eviction drive was carried out in three fringe villages of eastern Assam's Kaziranga National Park in September 2016. Two people died at Gorukhuti in north-central Assam's Darrang district when the eviction drive resumed in September 2021, five months after the BJP retained power and Himanta Biswa Sarma became Chief Minister. The eviction drives, allegedly targeted at Bengali Muslims, resumed in June 2025, coinciding with charges of corruption against the BJP-led government, one of them involving the purchase and redistribution of Gir cows for an agricultural project at Gorukhuti, from where migrant Muslims were evicted. What are the roots of the problem? Evicting encroachers from forestlands, wetlands, and government revenue lands is not a new phenomenon in Assam. However, the operation has been high on optics as the BJP and its sub-nationalist regional allies have accused the 15-year rule by Congress of having paved the ground for encroachment by the 'Bangladeshi', 'Miya', or 'illegal infiltrators' — pejoratives for Muslims with roots in present-day Bangladesh — for votes. This category of Muslims has long polarised electoral politics in Assam during and after the anti-foreigners Assam Agitation (1979-'85), which led to the signing of an accord prescribing a cut-off date — midnight of March 24, 1971 — for the detection, deletion (from electoral rolls), and deportation of 'illegal immigrants' or Bangladeshi nationals. Why is the drive overtly aggressive? The eviction drives have impacted non-Muslims as well, including 130 families whose houses were bulldozed to clear the Silsako Beel, a major wetland in Guwahati, of encroachment in 2022. Those against migrant Muslims, however, has garnered more attention for their scale and intensity, as it has led to the death of at least five people between 2016 and July 2025, when 1,080 families were evicted from 135 hectares of the Paikan Reserve Forest in Assam's Goalpara district. This aggression is also reflected in the rhetoric of the Chief Minister and other BJP leaders, who refer to the drive as a long-term exercise to save Assam from 'land jihad'. Before the drive was launched this year, the Chief Minister said 15,288.52 bighas of satra (Vaishnav monastery) lands remain illegally occupied by people of doubtful citizenship across 29 districts. He also referred to the Union Environment Ministry's report to the National Green Tribunal that 3,620.9 square kilometres of forest area in Assam were under encroachment as of March 2024. The Chief Minister vowed to continue the eviction drive until Assam is encroachment-free in 'at least 10 years', while clarifying that tribal people living in forest areas from before 2005 and covered by the Forest Rights Act would not be touched. This followed the fast-track resettlement of at least 12 Ahom families who were evicted along with migrant Muslims from village grazing reserves across four locations in northeastern Assam's Lakhimpur district. Why are Assam's neighbours jittery? Assam's neighbours were passive as long as the eviction drives were in areas far from the interstate borders. NGOs in Nagaland stirred into action after the Assam government announced an anti-encroachment drive in Golaghat district's Uriamghat. They saw it as a move to push 'illegal Bangladeshi immigrants' inside Nagaland under the agenda of usurping 'ancestral Naga lands'. Before the drive commenced, the police in Nagaland's Niuland district intercepted and turned 200 vehicles carrying 'illegal migrants' back to Assam. A few days later, a conglomerate of extremist groups announced a task force to guard the Assam-Nagaland border against infiltrators. The governments of Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, and Mizoram followed suit. They issued orders to the authorities in areas bordering Assam to increase vigilance, prevent the evicted people from coming in, and make the issuance of the inner-line permit, a temporary travel document, stricter. How are border disputes linked to eviction? Although opposition political parties in Assam see the eviction drive against Bengali-speaking Muslims as a part of the BJP's agenda of polarisation ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls, encroachment is at the core of the State's boundary disputes with Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Nagaland. These States were carved out of Assam between 1963 and 1972. In March 2025, the Assam Assembly was told that the four States have been occupying almost 83,000 hectares of land belonging to the State. These States have, off and on, driven migrant Muslims out to Assam, a State they accuse of having patronised 'illegal immigrants' and made them settle along the borders as a ploy to claim disputed lands. More than 350 people have died due to the inter-State disputes, which Assam has partially resolved with Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. On July 30, the Gauhati High Court directed these five States to constitute a high-level committee to facilitate a coordinated action to clear illegal settlements from forestlands.
