Guwahati: The Assam government has cleared more than 638 hectares of encroached land in eviction drives conducted in Golaghat, Hojai and Nagaon districts over the past few days, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Tuesday.
Around 1,000 families were evicted from protected areas during the operations, carried out last week to remove encroachments on forest land, officials said.
Announcing the outcome of the drives in a social media post, Mr. Sarma said the administration had acted against people illegally occupying large tracts of land in the three districts. "The 'Rudra Roop' of our administration befell upon encroachers in three districts, who were illegally occupying large swathes of land in Golaghat, Hojai and Nagaon," the Chief Minister said.
He added that the government would continue working to safeguard the interests of Assam, with more than 638 hectares of land cleared during the recent operations.
Eviction drives have been a key part of the State government's efforts to reclaim allegedly encroached land, including forest areas. The latest operations in the three districts resulted in the removal of encroachments across the identified areas, according to the Chief Minister and officials.
The government has maintained that such action is necessary to protect public land and preserve the State's interests. The drive is among the administration's most visible interventions on land and forest encroachment, and has drawn attention to the scale of the clearances and the displacement involved.
Officials said the operations in Golaghat, Hojai and Nagaon were carried out last week, with the cleared land to be brought under the State's control.