Guwahati: Gauhati High Court directed the Assam Government to conduct an eviction drive at the Lumding Reserve Forest against the illegal encroachers in Hojai district of Assam.
The decision was taken after hearing a PIL filed by Shiladitya Dev, the former MLA of Hojai assembly constituency.
Shiladitya Dev also said that around 20,000 people are staying in the reserve forest area and all are illegal migrants from Bangladesh.
The court in an order said that the state government has also filed an affidavit acknowledging the presence of such large area of forest land being encroached upon to the extent of 1.10 hectares of land under the Lumding Reserve Forest.
The order further read that the state forest department was directed by Gauhati High Court to conduct the eviction drive in three phases between October of this year to February 2022.
It may be mentioned that on 23 September, the state government had also conducted an eviction drive in the Dhalpur area of Sipajhar where two persons were killed and many people got injured along with at least 11 police personnel in the clash between police and encroachers.