Dehing-Patkai national park should include entire Amazon of the East: Conservationists, activists

"We welcome the chief minister's initiative but area expansion is a must and a concerted campaign has been launched through various media, including the social media, to highlight the need to include the entire stretch of the three reserved forests within the proposed national park," Dutta told PTI. Nature's Beckon along with the people of the villages surrounding the forests has spearheaded the movement for the protection of rainforests since the late '80s and has been emphasising the need to include the entire stretch within the wildlife sanctuary to protect the surviving patches of forests, he said.

The Assam government's decision to upgrade the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary into a national park has enthused environmental conservationists and activists but with this the long-standing demand to encompass the entire 500 sq km of the contiguous rainforests, known as Amazon of the East, within its ambit has gathered momentum. Conservationists have been demanding that the government include the adjoining reserved forests connected with the existing wildlife sanctuary like Joypore reserved forests, Upper Dehing East Block and the Upper Dehing West Block to the proposed national park.

Prominent personalities of the state like actor Adil Hussain, singer Papon, musician Joi Barua, former Axom Xahitya Xabha chief Parmananda Rajbongshi, author and journalist Anuradha Sarma Pujari and artist Dadul Chaliha have also been appealing to the government to include the reserve forests within the proposed park. Ethnic communities of the villages surrounding the reserve forests has also extended their unstinted support to this entire movement. Last week, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal issued a directive to upgrade the sanctuary into a national park.

The sanctuary encompasses only 111.11 sq km but the stretch of rainforests include 500 sq km of the Joypur, Upper Dehing and Dirok reserved forests, spread over the two districts of Tinsukia and Dibrugarh, said Soumyadeep Dutta, director of environmental organisation Nature's Beckon. It is imperative that the entire stretch is included within the proposed national park territory to save it from further destruction, he said. "We welcome the chief minister's initiative but area expansion is a must and a concerted campaign has been launched through various media, including the social media, to highlight the need to include the entire stretch of the three reserved forests within the proposed national park," Dutta told PTI.

Nature's Beckon along with the people of the villages surrounding the forests has spearheaded the movement for the protection of rainforests since the late '80s and has been emphasising the need to include the entire stretch within the wildlife sanctuary to protect the surviving patches of forests, he said. "Tea gardens, village settlements, deforestation, oil and coal exploration had irreversibly destroyed the previously contiguous rainforests and most of the surviving patches existed in isolation from each other, therefore slowly and progressively losing the extraordinary characteristics that define a rainforest. A glimmer of optimism has now emerged and we now hope that the entire stretch will be included," he said. These reserved forests though separated by different administrative divisions, are in reality, one undivided and continuous stretch of rainforest and the species diversity of this entire stretch is so overwhelming that we have to preserve this pristine rainforest from the clutches of the exploiters, Dutta said.

"Reserve forests enjoy no legal protection, are vulnerable to further exploitation and if left unprotected would perish in no time. Therefore, we had petitioned the government to upgrade the status of these three reserved forests to Joydehing Wildlife Sanctuary," he said. Initially, the three reserved forests can be declared as a wildlife sanctuary following which there is an urgent need to boost up the forest department by increasing manpower and improving its infrastructure before it is finally upgraded to a national park, he said.

Bibha Talukdar, secretary general of another conservation group Aaryanak has also called for inclusion of the three reserved forests within the proposed national park area. A senior forest official said declaring a national park under the Wildlife Protection Act is a process that requires several steps which includes public hearings, views of stakeholders, infrastructure development, settlements, if necessary, among other measures.

The process has just begun and all factors will be considered before the final notification is issued. Sonowal had directed the forest department to prepare an action plan for upgrading the sanctuary into a national park in consultation with the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Dutta said measures must be initiated immediately to bring in infrastructural development within the forests by setting up sufficient protection camps, construction of bird watching towers, employment of more forest guards and strengthening the manpower required, upgrading the Digboi and Dibrugarh wildlife forest division, among others. He also said that the stretch declared as a elephant corridor instead of including it as a part of the sanctuary is also not secure as elephant reserves do not enjoy legal sanctity similar to a wildlife sanctuary.

He demanded that the draft of the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary Ecosensitive Zone prepared by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and notified in May 2019 should be immediately scrapped and a fresh one be drafted following the chief minister's directive. Dehing-Patkai came to the forefront recently due to the coal mining at Saleki, at an aerial distance of nine kilometers from the Sanctuary by the Northeast Coalfields, an unit of the Coal India Limited, being carried out since 2003 but it has been stopped by the PSU after widespread protests. "There were misinformation campaigns by certain vested interests on the coal mining issue but we are overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and concern for Dehing Patkai, which is indeed a positive indication for the protection of the remaining patch of our pristine rainforests and we will never allow it to become a hotbed for coal, oil or timber mining," Dutta said.

Nature's Beckon has intensified efforts to ensure the complete protection of the entire 500 sq km of rainforests and "we urge everyone to make it a collective effort, come forward and extend their support to #Complete_DehingPatkai_WLS_500sqkm" through any social media platform Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or through any other medium, he added. Award winning actor Adil Hussain has also extended his support to the cause. "The #Assam govt has announced the up-gradation of Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary (111.19 sq.kms) to a National Park. This is a great move but this does not constitute the whole Amazon of East," the actor tweeted a few days ago. "119.19 Sq Km is not what we wanted. We need to include the whole of #AmazonOfTheEast," he said in a Twitter campaign for the inclusion of the 500 sq km within the proposed national park. Popular singer Angarag 'Papon' Mahanta also joined in to support the campaign.

"The whole purpose of saving the rain forests and to make it safe for the elephants and other wild life to freely move around without danger, will not be fully achieved without including the contiguous forests of Jeypore RF, Upper Dihing RF and the proposed Saleki RF," he tweeted. Dutta has been appealing to "all nature-loving people of Assam and even outside the state including students, teachers, artists, poets, musicians, intellectuals, journalists, other NGOs and people from all walks of life to support and participate in the movement to save this remaining patch of rainforest"..

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)