Assam can protect its forests and still treat evicted families fairly. It should publish a rehabilitation plan

In a series of drives over the past few days, Assam has cleared more than 638 hectares of reserved forest in Golaghat, Hojai and Nagaon, and about 1,000 families have lost their homes. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced the result in his own words: “The ‘Rudra Roop’ of our administration befell upon encroachers in three districts.” The cleared land in the Lutumari, Borpani and Jamuna-Moudanga forests is to be planted with trees.

What the government has not announced is where the families are to go.

The case for clearing the forests

Reserved forests are public land held in trust for everyone, and Assam’s are under real pressure. A state that lets them be settled piecemeal will in time have no forests left to protect. The Gauhati High Court has itself ordered forest land to be cleared. In Hojai, the police said this month’s demolitions passed off peacefully and that many residents had pulled down their own homes before the machines arrived. A government that enforces forest law is doing its job, and it would be wrong to pretend otherwise.

Eviction drives are also a central part of the Sarma government’s programme. That is his politics to choose. The question for everyone else is whether the drives are carried out in a way the law and basic decency can defend.

What is missing

Two things, chiefly. The first is a plan for people. Minority rights groups have asked for rehabilitation for those uprooted in Golaghat, Hojai and Nagaon. That is not an unreasonable demand, and the government has already accepted the principle. In July 2025 Sarma said the state would give land rights to evicted people who are “bona fide Indian citizens” and landless in their native places. The same High Court order he cited also said that people being evicted should be given drinking water and other essentials. Neither commitment means much unless the state says, drive by drive, who qualifies, how many have been resettled and where.

The second is process. In November 2024 the Supreme Court laid down rules for demolitions across the country: a show cause notice, at least 15 days to respond, a personal hearing, a reasoned order and video recording of the demolition itself. The court excluded structures on roads, footpaths, railway lines and water bodies, and demolitions ordered by a court, so its directions may not bind every forest drive. Their spirit should apply all the same. The Congress has alleged that in earlier drives houses were brought down within two or three days of notice. The government can settle that charge best by showing its paperwork.

What Assam should do

Every eviction drive should be preceded by written, individual notice and a chance to be heard, with the record kept and made public, as the Supreme Court has required for demolitions elsewhere.

The government should publish, for each drive, the number of families removed, how many it has found eligible for land or housing under the Chief Minister’s own promise, and where they have been settled. A family that is not eligible should be told why in writing.

The state should set a timetable for the promised plantations, so that the purpose of the clearance is visible on the ground and the land does not simply lie empty.

Protecting forests and protecting people are not rival goals. A government confident in its case should have no difficulty doing both, and showing that it has.

The reporting behind this view

• 638 hectaresof forest land cleared in Golaghat, Hojai and Nagaon in October 2026, the Chief Minister said
• About 1,000families evicted in the three districts, officials said
• 15 daysthe minimum notice period the Supreme Court set for demolitions in November 2024