Amit Shah praises Assam government for evicting illegal settlers from Kaziranga National Park

GUWAHATI: BJP president Amit Shah on Sunday praised the Sarbananda Sonowal-led government in Assam for evicting illegal settlers from forest land in Kaziranga National Park.
At the BJP’s national council meet in Kozhikode, Shah praised Sonowal for inspecting the India-Bangladesh border and evicting illegal settlers from the national park.

Assam government in a statement said that Shah praised Sonowal for his dynamic leadership. He praised the state government for taking the courageous step of clearing encroachment on forest land.

Soon after evicting illegal settlers from three villages in Kaziranga, the BJP-led government announced that it would carry out an eviction drive to clear encroachment on lands in other parts of the state.

The BJP had in the run-up to the assembly polls earlier this year promised to clear illegal settlers from Kaziranga. Two persons were killed and 15 policemen injured last week when police was pressed in to evict unauthorised settlers near the national park. In the eviction drive around 331 houses were demolished.

Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had declared that the government would now focus on clearing encroachment in Mayong area in Morigaon district.