Forest department’s eviction drive in Dholai; 30 Illegally constructed fisheries demolished

The Forest Department has launched a massive eviction drive in the protected forest areas of Dholai. The Department has cut down the embankments of over 30 illegal fisheries in the protected forest area.

On March 3, the Range Officer Ashok Kumar Dey, from Silchar Protection Range along with Uttamananda Ghoswami from Hawaithan Range, led the eviction drive.

These fisheries were built illegally and had destroyed the natural forest to much extent. The eviction drive went on in the Hawaithan Range’s Bishnupur Beat forests, Bishnupur Protected Forests and Punihawar Protected Forests under the Forest Department.

Excavators and contract labourers were involved in this work starting from early morning on Thursday. One after another fisheries’ embankments were cut down. Range Officer Uttamananda, speaking about the drive said, “Today we’ve freed huge area of the forests from forceful occupancy. Following the instruction District Administration, we’ve launched this drive. These ponds were illegally built and it stopped the natural flow of the water streams in the forests”.

The Forest Officers also said, this eviction drive will go on and more such areas under illegal occupancy will be freed. Thursday’s drive freed over hundreds of acres of forest land.