Guwahati: Over 4 sqkm out of 46 sqkm land of the Pabha Reserve Forest in Assam’s Lakhimpur district was cleared of encroachment by the district administration on Tuesday amid heavy deployment of police safety. The forest is positioned about 15 km south of NH-15.
About 500 Muslim households had been residing within the forest land for the final a number of years. Most of them hail from Barpeta, Morigaon and Hojai. Over 60 excavators and tractors had been deployed for the drive that started at 7:30 am.
CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday stated, “I had already said encroachment in the Pabha reserve forest will be cleared. I hope the forest land has been recovered. The matter of rehabilitation of the people, who are Indian citizens and have no land anywhere, will be taken up later.”
He added that drive towards encroachment of forest, satra and khas lands will proceed.
Lakhimpur further SP Runa Neog stated, “Police and district administration held a number of rounds of talks with the individuals earlier than the eviction was performed making an attempt to make them perceive why they need to vacate the place. They had been urged to vacate on their very own to keep away from property harm. Accordingly, the villagers have cooperated with the police and the district administration and vacated the forestland on their very own.”
Last 12 months, the households had filed a petition earlier than the district authorities in search of land rights within the forest space beneath the Forest Rights Act 2006. It was challenged by the forest division administration because the households don’t belong to any tribal group. The district authorities in September lastly rejected their petition and allowed them to provoke steps to free the forest land.
The forest was acknowledged as a reserve forest by the federal government in 1941. The whole geographical space of forest was over 49 sqkm throughout the time of recognition. A complete of three.08 sq km was de-reserved by the federal government in 1964 for settlement. The dense forest space within the reserve forest was over 8 sqkm in 1977. The reserve forest misplaced its dense forest space utterly as a consequence of human interference in 1997.
About 500 Muslim households had been residing within the forest land for the final a number of years. Most of them hail from Barpeta, Morigaon and Hojai. Over 60 excavators and tractors had been deployed for the drive that started at 7:30 am.
CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday stated, “I had already said encroachment in the Pabha reserve forest will be cleared. I hope the forest land has been recovered. The matter of rehabilitation of the people, who are Indian citizens and have no land anywhere, will be taken up later.”
He added that drive towards encroachment of forest, satra and khas lands will proceed.
Lakhimpur further SP Runa Neog stated, “Police and district administration held a number of rounds of talks with the individuals earlier than the eviction was performed making an attempt to make them perceive why they need to vacate the place. They had been urged to vacate on their very own to keep away from property harm. Accordingly, the villagers have cooperated with the police and the district administration and vacated the forestland on their very own.”
Last 12 months, the households had filed a petition earlier than the district authorities in search of land rights within the forest space beneath the Forest Rights Act 2006. It was challenged by the forest division administration because the households don’t belong to any tribal group. The district authorities in September lastly rejected their petition and allowed them to provoke steps to free the forest land.
The forest was acknowledged as a reserve forest by the federal government in 1941. The whole geographical space of forest was over 49 sqkm throughout the time of recognition. A complete of three.08 sq km was de-reserved by the federal government in 1964 for settlement. The dense forest space within the reserve forest was over 8 sqkm in 1977. The reserve forest misplaced its dense forest space utterly as a consequence of human interference in 1997.
