667 families evicted from 600 bighas in Goalpara, 5 schools to be demolished
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Guwahati: State govt on Monday conducted a drive to evict 667 families allegedly encroaching over 600 bighas of land in lower Assam's Goalpara district. The families mostly belong to the Bengali-speaking Muslim community, officials said.
The operation began at 7 am in Hasilabeel village under Balijana revenue circle amid heavy security deployment in the district, they added.
Goalpara DC Khanindra Choudhury said there was no resistance from the people occupying that land and no untoward incident was reported. The eviction was carried out in 45% of 1,555 bighas of land (around 699 bighas), while the remaining area is a water body.
The DC added that the villagers were served eviction notices earlier in 2023 and 2024 but failed to vacate.
"We again served them notices on Friday and asked them to clear their houses by Monday morning. Placards and posters were also put up at different places with the same message," he said.
An official added that there are five lower primary schools in the village, which are slated for demolition. At least 20 bulldozers and excavators were deployed for the purpose on Monday. However, the eviction had to be stopped at around 3 pm and will resume on Tuesday.
Choudhury, along with senior superintendent of police Navneet Mahanta, camped in the village since morning on Monday, while IGP (law and order) Akhilesh Kumar Singh arrived later to review the situation. According to officials, many residents left the village with their belongings after the notices were served, while the remaining families have requested the district administration to rehabilitate them.
A resident claimed that he was born in the village, as was his father, and his family has lived in the village for the last couple of decades.
"My grandfather settled here when the Jogighopa bridge over the Brahmaputra river was being constructed. We are cooperating with the authorities and have requested them to provide us with an alternative place to stay," the he said. The bridge, Naranarayan Setu, was inaugurated on Apr 15, 1998.
CM Himanta Biswa Sarma recently said eviction drives to clear encroached land will continue. He added that many eviction drives were carried out over the last four years, and his govt ensured that the cleared land is not encroached again. He claimed that clearing encroached land is the biggest achievement of the present state govt.
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