DHUBRI, March 23 - With 336.281 hectares of land occupied illegally, rampant encroachments into the forests of Dhubri and South Salmara-Mankachar districts was detected in a recent survey undertaken by the forest officials.
The reports of the survey under the head �Summary of Encroachment of Reserve Forest (RF) and Proposed Reserved Forest (PRF) under Dhubri Division up to the year 2016� shows that out of almost 3,500 hectares of forestland 336.281 hectares are occupied illegally by settlers under 15 forests of the districts. The Office of the Divisional Forest Officer, Dhubri branch looks after the forests of both the districts, and they undertook the recent survey to study encroachments in the areas.
Kaljani PRF, Borkona PRF and Srigram RF have seen maximum encroachment with 42.4 hectares, 41.06 hectares and 38.13 hectares respectively. In the Sarpamari RF, Chandardinga RF and Dudhnath RF, 23 hectares, 24.9 hectares and 11.73 hectares respectively are under illegal occupancy. Out of all the houses build in these areas, 468 are pucca houses, while 3,030 houses are kuchaa. There are also other types of houses in these areas.
The report also says that a large area of forestland is being used for cultivation. The encroachers have utilized as many as 134.51 hectares for agricultural use.
Significantly, six roads can be found in these areas with 13 schools, 6 police out posts, 11 temples and 12 masjids. However, the report says that most of the encroachers have settled in the forest areas before the year 2005 and some of them have been settled there as early as 1980s.
Speaking to The Assam Tribune, the Assistant Conservator of Forest for both the districts, Abdul Gani said that encroachment in these areas have been going on since long. �Regular eviction drives are undertaken to free such encroached lands, like the recent Chandardinga eviction, where a large area has been freed,� said Gani. He added that the department will need adequate Budget allocation to free all the encroached lands.
�If we are facilitated with money and technical support even these encroached areas could be freed�. He also said that the department is working hard in preventing further encroachment in these areas.
