Silsako Lake (also known as Silsako Beel) is an urban wetland and lake located at the heart of the Guwahati city positioned between 26ð10'08.47" N and 91ð49'45.53" E. It is an elongated, linear-shaped beel surrounded by Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary to the east, with VIP Road and Chachal to the west, Narengi to the north, and Panjabari to the south. It is surrounded by villages like Satgaon, Hengrabari and Mathgharia in Kamrup Metropolitan district of Assam. Guwahati Water Bodies (Preservation and Conservation) Act 2008 has specifically notified the Silsako Lake in the Schedule I to IV along with six other wetlands of Guwahati.
In 1912, the total area of the beel was 1,758.47 hectares. Satellite-based analysis using the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) documented a dramatic subsequent decline: the wetland area fell from 124.15 hectares in 2000 to 71.10 hectares in 2010, a loss of over 42% in a single decade. By 2020, the area had declined by a further 32.31 hectares. Field surveys additionally found that approximately 12 hectares of the wetland were under illegal occupation, with permanent residential and road structures built on what was formerly the water body.
Silsako () is the Assamese term for Stone Bridge. Beel () means lake in Assamese language.
Silsako lake has a length of approximately 5 km and an average width of .
On 26 February 2023, GMDA through Pratidin Time informed that a major eviction drive would be carried out against encroached land belonging to Silsako lake after a few previous such attempts had failed.
The eviction drive started peacefully on 27 February 2023 and on the first day, illegally occupied land away from the lake periphery, reclaimed upon former water channels, was acquired. Demolished structures included residential buildings, temples, namghars and mosques.
Following the initial evictions, many evictees complained of a lack of prior notice about the eviction, and many of the local residents including indigenous groups, claimed that their evicted land was legal and they even held GMC holding numbers. The drive was set to last until 3 March, and included relocation of many prominent establishments like the Ginger Hotel, OKD Institute of Social Change and Development and Doordarshan Kendra, Guwahati.
The drive was temporarily halted on 3 March. On 12 March, 179 acres of land were acquired from seventeen institutions to continue the eviction drive.