Tezpur: An eviction drive to reclaim village grazing reserve land was carried out on Sunday in Assam’s Biswanath district, with the district administration clearing more than 87 acres of encroached land in a largely peaceful operation.
Biswanath district commissioner Lakhinandan Saharia said the drive began around 7 am at Baghmari in the Behali Assembly constituency.
The eviction targeted encroachments on approximately 265 bighas, or 87.45 acres, of Village Grazing Reserve land, which is designated for livestock grazing.
According to the administration, eviction notices had been served in August to 435 families allegedly occupying the land illegally.
However, the process was temporarily halted after 68 families moved the Gauhati High Court challenging the notices.
The eviction was carried out on Sunday against the remaining 367 families, Saharia said.
The operation involved the deployment of around 20 excavators, along with heavy security arrangements to prevent any untoward incident. Officials said the exercise concluded without major disturbances.
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Some of the affected residents claimed they were unaware that the land was classified as a village grazing reserve.
One of them, Alap Uddin Haji, said his family had been living in the area since his father’s time and now faced an uncertain future after losing their home.
Haji alleged that he had been attempting to secure land rights for several years but was never informed by authorities about the actual status of the land.
