At least one person was killed and several others were injured, including policemen, in a clash between evicted people and security personnel in Paikan reserve forest in Assam’s Goalpara district on Thursday, officials said.
An eviction drive to clear 140 hectares of forest land in the Paikan Reserve Forest in Goalpara district had been conducted on July 12. Houses of around 1,080 families had been bulldozed. Even after the eviction, many of the affected families continued to live at the site in makeshift arrangements, such as tarpaulin tents, stating that they had nowhere else to go.
The official said forest guards and police personnel were attacked by alleged encroachers with sticks when they had gone to cordon off a part of the Paikan reserve forest, where an eviction drive was carried out on Saturday.
The evicted people also hurled stones at the forest guards and police personnel there, the official added.
“The forest department wanted to dig a channel to ensure that no attempt is made for future encroachment. It was carried out peacefully yesterday. But when the team reached this morning, people in the area attacked them with stones and sticks,” he said.
In a retaliatory action, the police had to fire to control the situation, in which one person was killed and two others were injured, he said. Several policemen and forest personnel were injured in the stone pelting, the official said.
“The forest team and police were doing routine patrolling in the evicted area, and the locals attacked people on official duty. Around 10 constables were injured, and there has also been property damage, which we are taking stock of. They had to use force to disperse the people, which included firing. In that, three of the locals were hit by bullets. One of them has died, and two others are under treatment,” said IGP (Law & Order) Akhilesh Singh. The person who died has been identified as Shakwar Ali.
As per initial reports, people affected by the July 12 eviction drive were among the attackers, he added.
The Goalpara eviction was the latest in a series of evictions conducted in the state over the past month, affecting four districts, where over 3,300 people have been evicted. This week, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that around 50,000 people have been evicted from approximately 160 square kilometres of land since his government took office in 2021.
