Guwahati: Authorities launched an extensive eviction drive under heavy security deployment on Saturday in Nagaon district, clearing encroachment from 795 hectares of reserved forest land and displacing nearly 1,500 families.After the operation began at Lutumari reserve forest early in the morning, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote on X, “Eviction 2.0 underway, Nagaon.”Nagaon district authorities said notices had been served three months ago, directing residents to vacate within two months. Following appeals from settlers, the district administration granted an additional month.An official said by the time the drive began, more than 1,100 families had already left voluntarily, dismantling both pucca and kutcha houses and carrying away their belongings. The remaining structures are now being demolished as part of the operation.Some residents claimed they had lived in the area for over four decades and were unaware it was designated as forest land, officials said.The eviction has once again highlighted the social complexities surrounding such drives. Most of those displaced belong to the Bangladesh-origin Muslim community, who say their ancestors settled in the area after losing land in the char (riverine) regions to erosion by the Brahmaputra.As bulldozers moved through Lutumari, the operation underscored Assam’s ongoing struggle to balance forest conservation with human settlement, while raising questions about rehabilitation and the future of thousands uprooted from land they had long considered home.