A representative image of an eviction in Assam.
Credit: PTI Photo
Guwahati: At least a dozen bulldozers were pressed into service on Sunday to demolish houses belonging to 580 families in Goalpara district as the BJP-led government in Assam resumed its eviction drive.
All those served notices belong to Bengali-speaking Muslims, a community which has become the target of evictions intensified in June this year.
Forest personnel carried out the drive at Dahikata reserve forest amid presence of armed forces. The evictions began without any resistance from the families as many had fled with their belongings after getting eviction notices, an official said. Dahkata forest comprising over 1,100 bighas of land, is situated about 200kms west of Guwahati.
The state forest department officials said the eviction at Dahikata reserve was carried out as per an order of Guwahati High Court.
But sources in the district said those evicted from the forest took shelter in nearby areas, most of which are also government lands.
An official in Goalpara said the eviction would continue on Monday.
Drive since 2021:
The drive began three days after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the eviction drive, which was paused due to sudden death of singer Zubeen Garg on September 19, would resume.
The BJP-led government had intensified the eviction drive in June targetting the Bengali-speaking Muslims. More than 160 square kilometers of forest and other government land have been cleared from encroachers since 2021, when Sarma became the CM.
The government says the Bengali-speaking Muslims, who are referred to as Miyas, have posed a threat to the state's demography. BJP calls the Bengali-speaking Muslims as illegal migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. But the eviction drive have drawn flak from the Opposition parties including the Congress, which charges that BJP-led government is doing the same as part of polarisation politics in the run upto the Assembly elections slated early next year.