Dibrugarh: A massive eviction drive was launched on Tuesday morning to clear nearly 11,000 bighas of encroached forest land in Uriamghat, located in Assam’s Golaghat district near the Nagaland border. This is one of the largest eviction operations carried out by the Assam government in recent years.
According to official sources, around 100 bulldozers have been deployed to demolish structures allegedly constructed illegally by encroachers.
The eviction drive, aimed at reclaiming forest land, is expected to impact close to 2,000 families who are said to have converted the land into betel nut plantations, reportedly linked to a wider betel leaf trade network.
The Golaghat district administration has mobilized around 1,500 security personnel to maintain law and order during the operation.
Fearing eviction, many residents—particularly Bengali-speaking Muslims who have often been branded as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh—have fled the area in search of shelter in other parts of Assam.
The state government claims that the encroachers include people from Muslim-majority regions in Assam such as Nagaon, Morigaon, Sonitpur, Cachar, Dhubri, Barpeta, and Hojai, as well as migrants from West Bengal and Bihar.
The eviction follows extensive land surveys conducted across 30 villages situated within reserve forest areas under the Sarupathar sub-division.
This marks one of the most extensive anti-encroachment operations in Upper Assam in recent times, with authorities underlining the need to reclaim forest land and address what they describe as large-scale, organised encroachment.
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