In a significant move, the Uttar Pradesh government has formed a five-member team tasked with reclaiming about 1,100 hectares of forest land that has allegedly been encroached upon along a 15-km stretch of the Indo-Nepal border in Pilibhit district. The operation is set to begin on Wednesday, with coordination from revenue officials. This area includes land that was previously occupied by refugees from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) without proper denotification between 1965 and the early 1970s. The team will be led by Ramesh Chauhan, the sub-divisional forest officer of the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve, and will include officials from various forest divisions. To ensure the operation proceeds smoothly and safely, copies of the order have been sent to local authorities, including the commissioner and DIG of Bareilly division. Given the violent clashes that occurred during a similar operation in Rajpur Simra village in 2017, additional security measures will be implemented, including police and paramilitary deployment to prevent any incidents.