Environment / Assam

JAMUGURIHAT, Feb 19 – Coming from Panpur Reserve Forest (6th addition of Kaziranga National Park), depredation of wild elephants is becoming a common feature in the southern part of Jamuguri area which includes revenue villages like Amdara, Hokoma, Panpur, Puraniveti, Nepali Panchigaon, Panchigaon, Habipal, Mohmorapar, Erabari and Borbhagiagaon under Naduar revenue circle (NRC) within East Sonitpur Forest Division of Sonitpur district.

A herd of the giants consisting of 20 to 25 elephants including three menacing ones have been continuously damaging sugarcane cultivation, dwelling houses of...

TEZPUR, Feb 17 — Rubul Pathak, Ranger of Chariduar Reserve Forest and Nirmaleswar Gohain, Ranger of Bhotpara Saw Mill area who were placed under suspension by an order to Joint Secretary, Forests, Assam, on January 25, have been absconding, police sources here said. Both the forest rangers were allegedly involved in encouraging deforestation by the illegal encroachers and the smugglers in Chariduar reserve forest.

Assam Forest Minister, Pradyut Bordoloi had visited the Nameri National Park on January 25 when the local villagers detected and exhibited a good number of logs of valuable trees...

GUWAHATI, Feb 16 — The first phase of the National (Natural) Resource Information System Project, aiming to create a national-level database on the resources of the country, is expected to be completed in Assam by March this year. The initial phase of the project in the State will cover Kamrup district.

Other districts will be covered in the next phases, sources in the Assam Science and Technology and Environment Council (ASTEC) said. The NRIS project was launched by the Government of India in 1999-2000 to have a total database on the resources like forests, soil, water, etc., to help policy...

BISWANATH CHARIALI, Feb 10? The future of the wild animals in Behali Reserve Forest hangs in balance due to massive encroachment of forest land by Arunachali people. Although eviction drives were carried out by the Forest Department in the recent past, the number of encroachers has increased three-fold.

According to reports available here, the northern side of the Behali Reserve Forest has largely been encroached by Arunachalis and by now 14 villages have been set up in the area. What is worse, the Government of Arunachal Pradesh has encouraged the encroachers by setting up dairy farms...

Guwahati, Feb. 7: The Assam government has finally agreed to the creation of forest development agencies (FDA) in every forest division of the state. This is expected to increase people?s participation in the conservation and protection of the state?s forest resources and to improve their livelihood. State forest minister Pradyut Bordoloi said here today that the creation of FDAs would also help the forest department to get funds directly from organisations without having to go through the normal channels. The department often gets funds after a long delay as the money has to come through the...

Guwahati, Jan. 31: For thousands of years, countless devotees have walked down the cobbled steps to reach the sanctum sanctorum of the Kamakhya temple to pay obeisance to the goddess. But from now on, pilgrims will not be allowed to break a coconut at the altar of the goddess or light incense sticks inside the main temple.

Threat to the structure of the temple due to vibrations, smoke and harmful chemicals ? pointed out by the Archaeological Survey of India ? have prompted the temple authorities to impose a ?ban? on breaking of coconuts and lighting of incense sticks inside the sanctum...

Guwahati, Jan. 30: On a cold January morning, some fishermen in Goalpara came up with a catch which they had never seen nor heard of: a deep-sea rayfish from the depths of the Brahmaputra.

The discovery of the rayfish in freshwater has prompted the state zoo authorities to launch a project to study its journey from the deep seas to the Brahmaputra.

The zoo authorities have made arrangements to display the rare fish. Visitors thronging the zoo are making a beeline for the enclosure housing the fish ? albeit long dead ? to get a glimpse of the marine specimen weighing 150 kg with a body span of...

Silchar, Jan. 23: The projected cost of converting the 204-km metre gauge rail track between this town and Lumding station into the broad gauge, estimated at Rs 608 crore the project was launched in 1996, has escalated to Rs 1,400 crore.

Expressing concern over the escalation, a senior official of the North East Frontier Railway (construction) ascribed the hike to the ?niggardly flow of funds? from the railway ministry.

He said rain and occasional attacks by militants had slowed down the project and had resulted in cost escalation.

The official, however, hoped that the construction would...

Tiloijan (Moran), Jan. 23: Hundreds of birds are dying at the Tilojan Tea Estate near here under ?mysterious circumstances?, bringing an ambitious avian conservation project of the Assam government under a cloud.

The exact cause of the death of the winged species ? which began four days ago ? will be known only after the forest department receives the reports on the post-mortem conducted on a few carcasses recovered from the garden. Environmentalists say that one of the possible causes of the deaths could be an ?overdose of pesticides? by the garden authorities. But the picture will become...

DIBRUGARH, Jan 23 ? A report of a large number of residential birds falling prey to insecticide at the Tilonijan tea estate in the Dibrugarh district has raised the heckles of nature watchers and wildlife enthusiasts. Though it is common knowledge that tea gardens use pesticides and insecticides to keep unwanted insects and pests at bay, this is the first time that there are reports that birds are becoming the victims.

Several species of birds, viz, Red Vented Bulbul, Black Drongo, Indian Tree Pie, Common Myna, Jungle Myna and the Babbler have died in their hundreds in and around the...