KOKRAJHAR, May 1 – The Chirang-Ripu reserve forest has been declared as an elephant reserve under the guidelines of the Centre’s “Project Elephant”. The reserve convers an area of 2600 sq km comprising six districts of Kokjrajhar, Bongaigaon, Barpeta, Nalibari, Kamrup and Darrang with seven forest divisions.
Meanwhile, senior forest officials said the Chirang-Ripu reserve has a minimum of 650 elephants and the number of pachyderms had registered a rise in the Haltugaon, Kachugaon and Aie valley wildlife division after the elephant census conducted in 2002. The officials were hopeful that after being declared as elephant reserve the plight of the animals would improve.