Guwahati, May 30 (IANS): The Assam government has been carrying out a huge eviction drive in Orang National Park to clear at least 21,000 bighas of encroached land.

The drive began on Monday and according to the administration, it will continue till June 1.

Pradipta Baruah, an officer with the Assam forest department at Orang National Park, told IANS on Tuesday, "For the last two days, the administration is carrying out an eviction drive at the park which falls within the jurisdiction of two districts - Darang and Sonitpur. The exercise has been peaceful so far."

According to him, notices were served earlier to the encroachers there and most of them voluntarily vacated the land.

"There was absolutely no resistance to the eviction drive," Baruah said.

"We could see a herd of elephants had returned to the forest and we are hoping that rhinos and tigers would come to the forest after the eviction process gets over," the forest officer send.

The district administration has made strict security arrangements to avoid any untoward incident during the drive.

Orang National Park is located on the northern bank of the Brahmaputra river in the Darrang and Sonitpur districts of the state.

It was established as a sanctuary in 1985 and declared a national park in 1999. The park has an area of 79.28 square kilometres.