Assam to resume evictions to clear forest land in Goalpara

Guwahati: After a brief pause due to sudden death of singer Zubeen Garg, Assam government is resuming eviction drive from Saturday. 

The state forest department will carry out evictions at Dahikata forests in Goalpara, a Muslim-dominated district in western Assam, on Saturday and Sunday, where more than 1,100 bighas of land have been illegally occupied. 

Forest department have already issued eviction notices to the families. "Evictions against Miyan Muslims will continue till I remain the Chief Minister, no matter what. We had to pause for a while due to sudden death of Zubeen Garg. But we will ensure that all forests and government lands are cleared from encroachment by the Miya Muslims," Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Thursday evening. 

Fear of evictions: 

Fearing evictions, several residents of Dahikata forest on Friday left the areas and dismantled their houses, forest department officials said. "Many have dismantled the houses and left with their belongings. But we will carry out the evictions where people are still there and where they constructed concrete houses. All these are illegal settlers," said an official adding that a massive plantation drive would be taken up after the drive. 

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 so far. 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.