Assam evicts 450 families from Goalpara forest land

Guwahati: The Assam government on Tuesday evicted nearly 2,000 people from 55-60 hectares of forest land in Goalpara district's Bandarmatha Reserve Forest.

Officials said that the exercise aims to prevent man-elephant conflict, which claims 25 lives annually in the region.

Goalpara Divisional Forest Officer Tejas Mariswamy stated that the eviction follows a Gauhati High Court order to clear reserve forest areas of encroachments.

It was reported that most of the settlers voluntarily left after flag marches and boundary demarcation.

The cleared area will undergo afforestation, making it suitable for elephant habitation, officials said.

This is the ninth eviction exercise in Goalpara in the last year, with a total of 550 hectares of encroached land cleared.