The Assam government on Tuesday completed an eviction drive to clear alleged encroachment from around 6,200 bighas, nearly 830 hectares, of land inside the Burhachapori Wildlife Sanctuary, affecting 710 families, officials said.

The eviction drive began on the morning of 5 January to clear encroached forest land spread across Sonitpur and Nagaon districts and was completed on Tuesday evening, Sonitpur District Commissioner Ananda Kumar Das said.

"Nearly 710 families had illegally settled and occupied about 6,200 bighas of forest land inside the protected wildlife sanctuary. Over the course of the two-day operation, the administration successfully evicted all illegal occupants and freed the encroached land," Das said.

The eviction was carried out in several areas under the Tezpur Sadar and Dhekiajuli revenue circles, including Jamuktol, Arimari, Siyalichar, Baghetapu, Galatidubi, Lathimari, Kundulichar, Purba Dubramari and Batulichar.

"After the clearance of about 40 per cent of the land from the clutches of land encroachers, the Sonitpur district administration launched the eviction operation in the remaining land," another official said.

Officials said the alleged encroachers had built houses and cultivated crops inside the Burhachapari Wildlife Sanctuary.

Most of the people living in the area demolished their houses on their own and carried household items to other destinations, but many stayed back due to severe cold and requested the administration to give them time to harvest their crops.

"Despite the encroachers' request not to evict them in the ongoing winter season, they will not be excused by administration from the ongoing eviction drive as they were illegally staying in the forest areas," Das said.

Sonitpur Senior Superintendent of Police Barun Purakayastha said all encroached areas were cleared without any untoward incident.

A heavy security arrangement was put in place, with more than 300 police personnel deployed during the two-day operation. Officials said 36 excavator machines and 60 tractors were used to carry out the eviction smoothly.

The drive is among the largest eviction operations carried out in Assam in recent years. In February last year, the administration had cleared 2,099 hectares of land in the Burhachapori Wildlife Sanctuary and nearby villages, affecting around 12,800 people.

In July last year, one person was killed and at least seven others were injured in a clash between alleged encroachers and forest guards at the sanctuary after alleged illegal occupiers returned and attempted to recapture the evicted land.

Burhachapori Wildlife Sanctuary is spread across 44.06 square kilometres on the southern bank of the Brahmaputra. It is located around 180 kilometres east of Guwahati and about 40 kilometres south of Tezpur town.

The protected forest is an integral part of the Laokhowa Burhachapori ecosystem and is a notified buffer zone of the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve.

The sanctuary is home to one horned rhinoceros, tiger, leopard, wild buffalo, hog deer, wild pig and elephants.

Its bird population includes the highly endangered Bengal florican, black necked stork, mallard, open billed stork, teal and whistling duck, among others.

Burhachapori has been a reserve forest under the Sonitpur district forest department since 1974 and was declared a wildlife sanctuary in July 1995.