Over 1,700 acres of reserve forest land cleared of encroachments: Himanta

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma announced the clearing of 1,732.5 acres of reserve forest land in Hojai district from encroachments. The government has reclaimed over 47,850 acres since 2021, emphasizing zero tolerance for illegal settlements, particularly targeting Bengali-speaking Muslims

Guwahati: Over 1,700 acres of reserve forest land in Assam’s Hojai district have been cleared of encroachments, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

He asserted that no encroachment will be tolerated.

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“GAME OVER for illegal encroachment at Jamuna-Moudanga RF. Mission completed as 5,250 bighas reclaimed through peaceful, lawful & decisive action,” Sarma said in a post on X on Saturday, referring to an eviction drive on 1,732.5 acres in the area.

“No cheat codes needed. Consider this your warning: Illegal encroachment will NOT be tolerated,” Sarma asserted.

Since the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led government came to power in 2021, it has carried out a series of evictions to clear land from alleged encroachments, mostly affecting the Bengali-speaking Muslim population.

Sarma had said during his press interaction on New Year’s Day that so far, eviction drives have been carried out to clear 1,45,000 bighas (47,850 acres) of land.

On November 3 last year, the chief minister asserted that eviction drives to clear encroachments will continue and “illegal Miyas” cannot have peace under his government.

‘Miya’ is originally a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam, and the non-Bengali speaking people generally identify them as Bangladeshi immigrants. In recent years, activists from the community have started adopting this term as a gesture of defiance.