GUWAHATI: Assam minister Parimal Suklabaidya, after visiting the area near the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border following reports of encroachment and destruction of forests, on Sunday said: “Not an inch of forest land will be allowed to be encroached upon by neighbouring states and also by local people and all will be evicted in due course of time.”
The environment and forest minister visited Lakhimpur and after reviewing the activities of the environment and forest department, said barring the people who have land rights under the Forest Regulation Act, others will be evicted from forest land. Notably, Assam has border issues with Arunachal Pradesh “The forest officials apprised the minister that 2,436 hectares has been encroached upon by Arunachal Pradesh and 4,440 hectares by local people. Twenty three hectares of encroached forest land has been evicted,” a state government statement said.
The Assam government has been trying to resolve the border disputes with Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram, the minister said. “The Assam government is not only trying to bring about a permanent solution to the border disputes with our neighbouring states at the highest level but also exploring ways for finding a solution by way of an out of the court settlement,” he added.
The minister asked the officials to carry out eviction from Pobha reserve forest with the help of the civil and police administration. The total area under five reserve forest is 31,096.55 hectares. The officials also informed the minister that of the 3,390 applications received for settlement in forest land under FRA, 2,743 have been rejected while 647 are under review. Suklabaidya told the officials to expedite the process of reviewing the applications. Reviewing the schemes of the fisheries department, Suklabaidya asked the department to increase fish production by ensuring optimum utilisation of the vast water resources of the district.
