The Assam government on November 8 carried out an eviction drive at Lumding reserve forest in Hojai district to evict encroachers from the forest lands.
As many as 1000 security personnel including Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Assam Police were deployed at Lumding reserve forest area to prevent any untoward situation during the eviction drive.
The Assam government has carried out the drive to remove illegal settlers from the forest lands following the directives of the Gauhati high court.
Earlier on September 23, the state government had carried out eviction drive at Dhalpur-Gorukhuti area in Darrang district. During the drive carried out by the Darrang district administration, violent clashes between locals and police were reported which resulted in the death of two people and injured many others, including 15 policemen.
According to the officials of Hojai district administration, most of the encroachers have left their homes before the administration and police force reached the area on November 8. During the day, the district administration had demolished 555 houses and illegal structures constructed inside the forest lands.
The Hojai district administration said that the eviction drive will continue on November 9.
As per reports, the Lumding reserve forest has covered an area of over 22,403 hectares and out of this, 1,410 hectares have been encroached upon by people.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on November 8 said that, the Hojai district administration has evicted around 1,500 families from the Lumding reserve forest during the day.
