Biswanath district admn evicts encroachers from forest land

The Biswanath district administration evicted encroachers from several hectares of forest land in the district near the inter-state border, official sources said today.
Encroached areas in Behali Reserve Forest in Naharjan and Singlijan Reserve Forest near Dulongmukh were cleared, Divisional Forest Officer East Sonitpur division Rajen Choudhury told PTI today.
Bordering areas of the two reserved forests on both side were occupied by encroachers who had established farms with crop and rubber tree cultivation and had cut down several trees in the reserve forest, Choudhury said.
The eviction drive to clear the area of encroachers was conducted by Biswanath district administration and East Sonitpur Forest Division in the two reserved forests on June three and ended last evening, he said.

Over five hectares of forest land occupied by the encroachers about 3 km inside the border in Assam's Naharjan area and 220 hectare of the 1400 hectare Singlijan Reserve Forest were cleared, he said.
In Singlijan Reserve Forest the encroachers had covered the area with fencing and permanent pillars, Choudhury said adding, more than 500 metre fencing along with posts have been recovered during the eviction drive.