A CORRESPONDENT
GOALPARA: With a view to evict illegal encroachment inside the Dohikata Reserve Forest of Goalpara district, the Goalpara district administration and Forest Department, in cooperation with the district police, have readied themselves to undertake the critical mission from Sunday.
High-level officers of the administration, forest and police visited the targeted areas on Saturday evening and took stock of the preparedness.
According to the information, the reserve has 1685 hectares of forest land, and approximately 153 hectares of land have been occupied by the illegal encroachers, and notices to about six hundred illegal settlers have been served already. 'Maintaining the necessary procedures, notices were served, and sufficient time was given to clear the reserve prior to the eviction action and minimise damages. 'Accordingly, hundreds of families have left the reserve till Saturday,' remarked a high-placed source of the district administration. Meanwhile, sources further informed that there will be no eviction in the government patta land which has stay orders from the court. Mention may be made that the famed archaeological site Sri SriSurya Pahar shares its border with the Dohikata reserve, and there were sharp allegations of encroachment even surrounding the famous archaeological site.
The eviction drive, if successful, is believed to lessen the human-elephant conflicts in the area where a pachyderm regularly confronts human beings and casualties arise out of the incidents.
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