Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma shared images showing three rhinoceros ambling around the Pabho Reserve Forest where a recent eviction effort liberated 32000 bighas of land from encroachment.
Taking to Twitter, CM Sarma said, “Happy to share that 3 rhinos have been spotted in Pabho Reserve Forest in Lakhimpur, days after our drive resulted in freeing of 4163 ha (32000 bigha) of land in the RF from encroachment”.
Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma recently praised the administration for eradicating encroachment from about 90% of the Pabho Reserve Forest in the Lakhimpur district.
The administration on January 10 began an eviction campaign to remove encroachment. The campaign lasted for several days and involved evicting 500 “illegal settler” families.
“Our commitment to preserve our natural resources is sacrosanct. Happy to share that after 5 days of eviction exercise 4,163 ha (32,000 bigha) of Pabh0 Reserve Forest freed from encroachers,” CM Sarma said in a tweet. The total area of the reserve forest is estimated to be 4,625.85 hectares, he added.
The administration’s efforts to preserve Assam’s forest cover were praised by the chief minister as well.
Notably, the Pabho Reserved Forest’s real extent was 4625.87 hectares when it was established on March 6, 1941. In Assam, the Reserved Forest functioned as the wild buffalos’ natural habitat. The eviction effort was started by the administration in two stages. The government carried out the eviction drive at Mohghuli on Tuesday in order to release 200 hectares of land by evicting 202 people. The encroachers’ mustard fields in the forest land were destroyed during the operation. In addition, they demolished the homes so that the encroachers couldn’t build new homes there.
According to the Forest Right Act of 2006, people had asserted their ownership rights over the property. But the relevant authority turned down their applications. After then, the State Government decided to remove those citizens. Locals and residents from various sections of the state make up the unlawful settlers.