How Far Should We Go to Save the Forests?

A familiar scene unfolds again in Assam — bulldozers roaring through human settlements, cries blending with the crushing sound of homes collapsing, and the dust of despair rising over yet another “eviction drive.”

This time, the drama is set in the Dahikata Reserve Forest in Goalpara, where over 1,140 bighas of land are being “reclaimed” by the administration — a word that sounds so clean, so bureaucratically sterile, it almost hides the human wreckage beneath it.

District Commissioner Prodip Timung insists the eviction is being carried out as per Gauhati High Court’s directive. “We’ve given notices, enough time, and facilities for the residents to vacate,” he says, standing firm on administrative procedure.

According to Timung, initial notices were served a month ago, followed by another round of notifications 15 days later, urging residents to vacate the land. When compliance didn’t follow, a final ultimatum was issued just two days ago — warning that eviction would be imminent.

On paper, everything appears neat and legal. But the ground reality tells a harsher story — of chaos, fear, and unanswered questions.

Over the last two days, the administration has served ultimatums to nearly 580 families, directing them to vacate their homes spread across 1,140 bighas of forest land. Bulldozers, excavators, and over 900 security personnel, including police, paramilitary units, forest guards, and commandos, have been deployed to carry out the massive operation.

Goalpara Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Tejas Mariswamy justifies the drive as a necessary step to reclaim forest land and revive the region’s ecological balance. “There are almost 153 hectares — around 1,140 bighas — of encroached land that we are clearing. We are recovering reserve forest areas one by one to restore forest health and reduce human-elephant conflict,” he stated.

Also Read: “Targeted for Being Muslim,” Cries of Anguish Rise from Evicted Families in Assam's Goalpara

Mariswamy also admitted that an investigation is underway into how “patta” (land rights) were issued on forest land. “We have written to the Revenue Department to find out how this happened. But having a patta doesn’t stop eviction — there can be no human rights to encroach forest areas,” he asserted.

It’s a technically correct argument. But legality alone cannot sanitize the moral discomfort that hangs over Dahikata. Because behind every “illegal occupant” lies a face — a woman holding her crying child beside the rubble of what was once her home; an old man clutching his walking stick, staring blankly at the land he’s called home since childhood.
“We were born here,” they say. “Our parents died here. Now, where will we go?”

There are no answers.

No relocation plan. No rehabilitation.

Just a government chasing numbers — bighas cleared, acres reclaimed, hectares revived.

The Politics of Purity

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, in a recent Facebook Live, declared firmly:
“Certain groups are conspiring to stop eviction drives. They once plotted to turn Assam into another Nepal. But we will not let Assam become Nepal.”

That one sentence — “Assam will not become Nepal” — says more than all official statements combined. It reveals the deeper narrative driving these operations: this is not just about land, but about identity, belonging, and control. The soil of Assam is being redrawn — not just geographically, but demographically.

The All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU) sees the eviction for what it fears it is — a targeted operation. AAMSU president Rezaul Karim Sarkar accused the government of “snatching people’s food, clothing, and shelter.”
He warned, “If people cannot live in peace, the ruler too will not remain at peace.”

The administration denies any communal bias. Yet the pattern of eviction — its timing, its locations, and the communities it affects — leaves many uneasy.

Also Read: Assam: Pangolin scale smuggling ring busted, four arrested in Dima Hasao

The Human Cost of Governance

Let’s be clear — encroachment on forest land is wrong. But so is state machinery that demolishes without compassion.
For decades, successive governments allowed people to settle, even issued pattas, built schools and polling booths, tacitly legitimizing their existence. Now, the same people are branded “encroachers” — their homes razed, their pleas drowned by the sound of bulldozers.

This is not governance. This is institutional amnesia with a police escort.

If forest conservation is truly the goal, then accountability must start at the top. Who allowed these settlements to thrive? Who issued the pattas? Why are no administrative heads being questioned? Why does justice always fall on those with the least power?

The Heart of the Matter

What’s unfolding in Dahikata is not merely an eviction — it’s a collision of law, politics, and humanity.
Forests must indeed be protected, but not by uprooting people without a roadmap for their survival.
A green revival that leaves thousands homeless is not environmental justice — it’s ecological hypocrisy.

As the dust settles over Dahikata, one question lingers:
Will the state remember the people it erased in the name of conservation?
Or will they, like their homes, disappear into the fine print of “court orders”?