Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) officials launched an eviction drive at Silsako Beel, a protected wetland in Guwahati, Assam on Monday.
The operation began on Monday, with over 15 excavators and 3,000 armed personnel securing the site.
GMDA chairman Narayan Deka inspected the area alongside other officials before commencing the three-day operation.
In order to deal with the problem of artificial flooding in Guwahati and to protect biodiversity, the Kamrup (metro) district administration launched this operation.
Around 160 houses – from makeshift huts to concrete buildings – which had been built on encroached land, were razed to the ground. While some encroachers had vacated the land after getting a notice from the district administration, most of them refused to vacate, and today, their dwelling houses were destroyed during the eviction drive. Out of the 1,800 bighas of notified area of the Silsako Beel, around 1,000 bighas-1,200 bighas are under encroachment. And out of 453 houses built on encroached land at Silsako Beel, around 160 were demolished today.
