The Lakhimpur district administration evicted 132 families, comprising around 704 people, from 320 hectares of Professional Grazing Reserve land at Boginadi in Assam on Friday, demolishing remaining structures after notices had been issued several weeks earlier.
The operation covered the No. 1 and No. 2 Boginadi Professional Grazing Reserve areas under the Kadam Revenue Circle. District commissioner Pronab Jit Kakoty and senior superintendent of police Gunendra Deka supervised the drive, which was conducted with a heavy police deployment.
According to the district administration, several families dismantled parts of their houses and removed construction material before the eviction. Heavy machinery was then used to demolish the structures that remained. The administration said the operation ended peacefully, without resistance or any untoward incident.
“Most of the families had dismantled substantial portions of their houses themselves after receiving prior notices. The administration subsequently removed the remaining structures. The entire operation proceeded peacefully, and we did not encounter any resistance or obstruction,” Kakoty said.
Kakoty added that the demolition of concrete structures took additional time, but the operation was completed within the scheduled period. The administration said the drive was conducted under the Assam Land and Revenue Regulation, 1886, and followed notices served to the affected families.
Deka said the eviction was necessary because Professional Grazing Reserve land was reserved for a specific public purpose and could not be occupied for residential use. “We are conducting surveys and will continue taking systematic steps to clear encroachments from reserved govt land across Lakhimpur district,” he said.
Professional Grazing Reserves and Village Grazing Reserves are categories of reserved government land intended for defined public and community purposes. The administration’s action at Boginadi forms part of a wider exercise to identify and clear alleged encroachments from reserved government land across Lakhimpur district.
The operation highlights the administrative challenge of enforcing land reservations after residential structures have been established on government land. In this case, the district administration said notices were issued weeks before the drive and that some families removed construction material before the demolition machinery arrived.
The supplied account does not provide details on rehabilitation, compensation, alternative housing or the post-eviction arrangements for the 704 people affected. It also does not state when the Boginadi reserve land was first occupied or whether any appeals or court proceedings were filed by the families.
The district administration said it would continue conducting surveys and taking systematic steps to clear encroachments from reserved government land across Lakhimpur district.
