Environment / Assam

GUWAHATI, June 23 – In a move widely expected to accelerate the pace of conservation in the State, the State Government has notified three new wildlife sanctuaries (WLSs) – Amchang WLS, Dihing-Patkai WLS and Barail WLS – covering a total area of 516 sq km, and bringing the number of protected areas (including National Parks) in the State to 23. This is in addition to the two proposed sanctuaries, Deepar Beel and Bardoibam Beelmukh.

Of particular significance is the Dihing-Patkai as it has been formed out of the famed rain forests of Upper Dihing, Dirak and Joypur reserve forests (RFs) along...

GUWAHATI, June 23 – Following the tragic death of three elephants after being run over by a goods train, senior forest department and N F Railway officials today participated in a joint meeting to review the situation around railway tracks close to forest tracts.

The meeting convened by Conservator of Forests, Central Assam Circle R D S Tanwar, discussed preventive measures that could help stop trains coming into close proximity of elephants. In the meeting, the railway officials agreed to suitably regulate speeds of trains traversing through elephant habitats.

The meeting also helped...

Guwahati, June 22: After ignoring appeals from wildlife enthusiasts and NGOs for years, a jolted Assam forest department today urged the railways to impose speed limits in areas where rail tracks pass through animal corridors. The forest department’s appeal came a day after three elephants — an adult and two calves — were mowed down by a speeding goods train near Deepor Beel, raising the hackles of conservationists who blamed both the department and railways for the tragedy.

The Wildlife Protection Society of India, one of the premier agencies working in the field of conservation, termed the...

GUWAHATI, June 20 – The annual floods witnessed in Assam have been one of the primary factors behind its economic backwardness. It has resulted in losses worth hundreds of crores of rupees not to speak of the loss of human lives. In 2002 alone, the loss suffered by the State due to floods has been calculated at almost Rs 187 crore. On top of that 65 lives were lost due to the deluge. Figures supplied by the State Water Resources Department (WRD) say that during the Ninth Five Year Plan period, from 1997 to 2001, the State suffered losses worth Rs 789 crore. Almost 200 people lost their lives...

Jorhat, June 19: The Kaziranga National Park has got a new lease of life with over 7,576 bighas of land being included with the 430 square km national park. The development comes as a big boost for the park, which is gearing up its centenary celebrations next year. In a recent out-of-court settlement, 52 families that were encroaching upon a 7,576 bigha plot inside the park were rehabilitated in Nagaon district.

“This has come as a boon for the park animals. Animals of the park, specially the prized rhinos, can now roam around freely and graze on the added area,” a park official said.

The...

Dibrugarh, June 16: It is not the nine-to-five office job that he had hoped to land after completing his post-graduation. Neither is it loaded with the perks that he once dreamt of. But Nipon Saikia is happy that life as a tourist guide at the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park offers “job satisfaction”, if not financial benefits.

Nipon and several more youths became tourist guides under a novel employment-cum-conservation scheme launched by the Dibru-Saikhowa authorities. They underwent a crash course in conservation recently.

The idea of forming a group of tourist guides came from S.S. Rao, an...

GUWAHATI, June 14 – Though consumption of electricity has increased by as much as 6 percent in Assam over the one year period from 2001-02 to 2002-03, the State’s power generation has continued to decline leaving the people starved for power. The demand-supply shortfall during 2002-03 was 23.78 percent, according to data supplied by the Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB).

Assam, despite its tremendous potential to generate power ranging from hydel to natural gas, including oil and coal resources, has not been able to make any progress in this sector. “There exists a big gap between...

New Delhi, June 13: Kaziranga National Park could not have hoped for a better centenary gift. The abode of the one-horned rhino has been chosen, along with Keoladev National Park in Rajasthan, for a $ 5 million Unesco grant. The funds are for a project called the World Heritage Biodiversity Programme for India, to be executed by the Union ministry of environment and forests over four years, beginning next January.

Project co-ordinator V.B. Mathur, who is from the Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India, said the two national parks scored over other biodiversity hotspots because both were...

Guwahati, June 9: Assam has roped in celebrated British travel writer Mark Shand as the international brand ambassador for the centenary celebrations of the Kaziranga National Park next year. Assam forest minister Pradyut Bordoloi said Shand have been selected with the objective of attracting as much global attention as possible for the celebrations which would be promoted as the “greatest conservation success story of the century”.

The park was founded in 1905 with 10 one-horned rhinos.

Today, it is home to over 1,600 rhinos, has the highest concentration of Asiatic buffaloes and also has...

Guwahati, June 9: Almost seven years after militants cut short Sanjoy Ghose’s pathbreaking work in Majuli, Assam police are set to launch a campaign to fill the vacuum created by the abduction and murder of the man who roused the islanders out of slumber and made them aware of their rights. “The social mobilisation campaign of Assam, to be launched shortly, aims to bring about a sea change in the lives of people of the world’s largest river island,” director-general of police P.V. Sumant said.

He described the mobilisation campaign as an effort to involve police personnel in the task of...