Guwahati: Assam MLA and leader of Sanmilita Ganashakti, Bhuban Pegu, on Thursday came out openly against the eviction drive at Amchang wildlife sanctuary describing the drive as "inhuman" and "injustice" to people.

The Sanmilita Ganashakti is a part of the BJP-led ruling coalition in Assam.

Pegu produced a gazette notification of the Union ministry of environment, forests and climate change to the media which shows 37 villages, including Botaghuli (Eusub Nagar) where the eviction was carried out, under the "List of revenue villages in proposed eco-sensitive zone of Amchang wildlife sanctuary".

The notification was published on May 7 this year.

Like many evicted families of Amchang, Pegu too belongs to the Mising community who predominantly live in flood-affected Dhemaji and Lakhimpur districts.

Pegu claimed that at least 90 per cent of the evicted families were living in revenue villages around Amchang. He said under the Forest Rights Act a family living in a forest land before 2005 cannot be evicted by the government.

"The people who have been evicted had been living there from 2002," he said.

"The eviction at Amchang is not a brave act of the government. If the government has true courage, it should evict the Bangladeshi settlers," Pegu told the media on Wednesday in Dhemaji.

He said if the state government does not rehabilitate the evicted families with proper compensation, the people will give a fitting reply to the BJP in the coming elections.

Pegu said he had informed about the 37 revenue villages to chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal and forest minister Pramila Rani Brahma in August.

The eviction drive was launched in August. Gauhati High Court gave the state government a month's time to clear encroachment. Eviction was stopped because of massive protests.