In a large-scale operation launched early Saturday morning, the Forest Department of Assam began evicting over a thousand families from the Paikan Reserve Forest area under Krishnai revenue circle in Goalpara district.
The drive, aimed at reclaiming around 1,038 bighas of allegedly encroached forest land, is part of an ongoing state-wide campaign to free protected areas from human settlements.
Nearly 50 excavators and over a thousand personnel including Assam Police, paramilitary forces, and forest officials were deployed to ensure the smooth execution of the eviction process.
Although the eviction proceeded without major incidents, displaced families expressed anguish over the lack of alternative housing or rehabilitation measures.
The Assam Forest Department has defended the eviction, citing the need to prevent further ecological degradation and illegal encroachment in reserve forests.
Officials maintained that the operation is part of a broader strategy to restore forest cover and biodiversity across the state.
However, the move has drawn sharp criticism and sparked protests led by the All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU), which denounced the drive as “inhuman and anti-poor.”
On Saturday, AAMSU carried out protest demonstrations across several districts of Assam, including in Gossaigaon and Kokrajhar.
In Gossaigaon, the Western Kokrajhar District Committee of AAMSU staged a sit-in in front of its district office in Serfanguri.
Meanwhile, in Kokrajhar town—administrative capital of the Bodoland Territorial Region—another protest was held at Gandhi Park. When demonstrators attempted to take out a rally, police halted them citing security concerns.
The ongoing eviction drive in Goalpara comes on the heels of a similar operation in Dhubri district earlier this month, where over 3,500 bighas of land were cleared in the Chapar area.
The Assam government, under Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, has in recent years aggressively pursued eviction of what it calls illegal encroachments on government and forest lands.
As the protests intensify and political pressure mounts, AAMSU has called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and halt the eviction drives.