Assam: Nearly 5 sqkm of Pabha forest encroached upon, says Forest department

GUWAHATI: Nearly 5 sqkm of more than 46 sqkm area of the Pabha Reserve Forest, which is located in Assam’s Lakhimpur district, is under encroachment, the forest department has said.
A total of 507 families belonging to the minority community have been occupying the area of the reserve forest, which is about 15 km towards the southern side from NH-15, for decades.
Ashok Kumar Deb Choudhury, divisional forest officer of Lakhimpur division, said the families had filed a petition before the district authorities seeking land rights in the forest area under the Forest Rights Act, 2006. “We challenged the petition as they do not belong to any tribal community.
The authorities finally rejected their petition and allowed us to initiate steps to free the forest land,” he added. The Act recognizes the rights of forest-dwelling tribal communities and other traditional forest dwellers on forest resources.
Choudhury added that most of owners of the houses live in different places. “They have either given their residence on rent or kept a caretaker,” he said. The DFO said the families have been served notices and asked to vacate the land by September 15. A few families have already left the place.