Heart-Wrenching: 450 Families Evicted to Safeguard Elephant Habitat in Goalpara | Guwahati News
Guwahati: In a significant move to protect a vital elephant habitat and mitigate human-elephant conflicts, the Assam state forest department cleared over 55 hectares of illegally encroached land in the Bandormatha reserve forest, Goalpara district, on Tuesday. Goalpara DFO Tejas Mariswamy reported that this district experiences one of the highest intensities of human-elephant conflicts nationwide, with an annual average of 25 human fatalities. Already, 12 human and 3 elephant deaths have been recorded this year.
Among the 12 encroached reserve forests in Goalpara, the forest department has successfully cleared five, including Bandormatha. Approximately 450 housing structures were demolished in the 55-hectare area, part of the total 118 hectares in the Lakhipur forest range. The settlers, residing there for decades, were obstructing the elephants’ natural habitat, exacerbating conflicts in the district. The DFO highlighted that the eviction, carried out with 250 police personnel and 10 bulldozers, did not require force as most families vacated voluntarily.
The forest department plans extensive plantation drives to restore the area and provide a conducive environment for elephants, thereby reducing future conflicts. In parallel, Kamrup (Metro) district administration executed the second phase of an eviction drive in Sonapur, where land surveys revealed many settlers had invalid documents, leading to the planned eviction of around 400-500 families.
Elsewhere, similar issues of human-elephant conflicts due to habitat loss were reported in Tamil Nadu’s Dharmapuri forest division, and Haveri district faces illegal encroachment of 3,683 acres of forest land. Additionally, the Kerala forest department identified ten high-conflict areas requiring tailored mitigation strategies due to forest degradation and agricultural expansion.
Original Story https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/450-families-evicted-to-protect-elephant-habitat-in-goalpara/articleshow/113647184.cms
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