NGT directs Assam govt to clear 4200 ha of encroached forest land in Kamrup (M)
The Kolkata bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the Assam government to remove encroachments from 4,240 hectares of forest cover in Kamrup (Metropolitan) district by the end of December next year, according to an order seen by HT.
In the order issued last week, judicial member justice B Amit Sthalekar and expert member Arun Kumar Verma directed the Assam chief secretary and the principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF) to ensure expeditious compliance of the order and submit an action taken report on complete clearing of the area by December 31, 2026.
'Take expeditious steps for the removal of the encroachments and ensure that the entire area of 4240.04 hectare of encroached forest land in Kamrup (M) is cleared of all encroachments,' the order stated.
The New Delhi bench of NGT had filed a suo motu application in November last year based on a news item that appeared in a Guwahati-based newspaper on this matter. It was later transferred to the eastern zone branch of NGT in Kolkata the same month.
The news report mentioned that a substantial portion of forests in the district had been encroached upon, adding that the encroached area includes ecologically important hills such as Fatasil, South Kalapahar, Jalukbari, Gotanagar, Hengrabari, Sarania, and Garbhanga, which are within and the periphery of Guwahati, the largest city in the northeast.
In March this year, Assam's principal chief conservator of forest and head of forest force filed an affidavit, stating that Kamrup (M) district has 12 reserved forests covering an area of 28,380.09 hectares, of which about 4,240.40 hectares is under encroachment.
It mentioned that the encroachments are mainly in South Kalapahar, Fatasil, Hengrabari, Gotanagar, Garbhanga, Marakdola, West Apricola and Matapahar reserved forests. The affidavit added that from 2022-23 to 2024-25 a total of 21 eviction drives were conducted in those areas and around 3.5 hectares of forest land were cleared.
'Certain encroachment drives are stated to have been carried out, but the land which has been recovered from the encroachers comprises a minuscule percentage of the total land under encroachment, which renders such anti-encroachment drives completely futile,' the NGT observed in its order.
Citing previous Supreme Court orders on such issues, the NGT bench directed the Assam government to clear the entire encroached area by the end of 2026 and disposed the application.
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