205 evicted, 146 houses razed across 300 bighas in Doyang Reserve Forest
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Guwahati: Forest department began the eviction of encroachers from the Doyang Reserve Forest in Golaghat district on Friday, demolishing 146 houses amid heavy security deployment.
However, another 59 houses were left untouched for now, following an Aug 5 order by a division bench of the Gauhati high court, said a district administration official.
The official added that 205 people were illegally occupying over 300 bighas of land in the reserved forest at Negheri Bil at Merapani, which falls along the Assam-Nagaland border. "People of 146 families have already vacated the forest land. The concrete houses were demolished on Friday.
Notices were served on the families on July 24, asking them to vacate the land within seven days. However, following a few petitions before the Gauhati high court, the eviction drive was delayed," the officer said.
Following the notices, two writ petitions were filed by a few people of Negheri Bil, claiming land rights and praying to treat the notices as 'ignored'. A single-judge bench of the court on July 29 extended the eviction window until Aug 7 and instructed the state govt to initiate steps for eviction and conservation of the forest land after the deadline.
The petitioners again approached the two-member division bench of Chief Justice Ashutosh Kumar and Justice Arun Dev Choudhury by filing a writ appeal, in which the court on Aug 5 granted the petitioners a 10-day window, until Aug 14, to either submit proof of land allocation or vacate. Till then, the govt was directed not to take any coercive steps against the appellants.
Adhering to the orders, forest department and the district administration left 59 houses untouched and demolished the others.
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