Environment / Assam

Jorhat, May 28: The Kaziranga National Park will have an added attraction soon. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has sanctioned funds to transform a hamlet named Durgapur, adjacent to the abode of the one-horned rhino, into a model village where tourists can get a taste of the Assamese way of life.

Bokakhat sub-divisional officer Debo Kumar Nath said work on the project would begin early next month.

The village will have a namghar (prayer hall), a batsora (gateway) in each house, a community hall and 73 families. “Once the village is inaugurated, tourists visiting the national...

The majestic and picturesque Haflong lake — one among the biggest and beautiful man-made lakes in India was dug out more than 100 years ago by the Britishers under the town planning programme. Deemed as the scenic paradise of North East — Haflong an important tourist destination spot. Nature’s charm amidst the concrete structures bustling town and modernization in this only hills station of Assam was once patronised by the Europeans during the colonial period. The Haflong lake initially was a small lake beneath a hill. It was during the colonial heydays when the need of a lake was felt in...

New Delhi, May 26: Four years after it was approved and efforts were made to kickstart the scheme, the Pagladiya dam project has been identified as one of the “three problem areas” faced by the Union ministry of water resources. Newly-appointed minister of water resources Priya Ranjan Das Munshi said, “The Pagladiya project has been earmarked as one of the three projects that are problematic which would require careful handling by the ministry. The other two are Narmada and Cauvery.”

First proposed in the sixties, the project was cleared in 2000 with the objective of protecting 40,000 hectares...

JORHAT, May 25 – Winging their way through highways in the sky, seasonal avian visitors to the numerous wetlands of Jhanjimukh area off Teok often found themselves fall prey to poachers nets. Either trapped, maimed or poisoned, they occasionally ended up in cooking pots till a few years back, until the birds eventually found a reliable protector in ‘Ketekee’. With senior citizens, housewives, full-blooded youth, and even impressionable schoolchildren among its rank and file, “volunteers of Ketekee today constitute an efficient and close-knit intelligence network”, the NGO’s dedicated secretary...

BISWANATH CHARIALI, May 25— About 58,000 hectares of reserve forest areas in north Assam have been devastated following aggression by Arunachal Pradesh on the one hand and encroachment by local people and migrants on the other. Though north Assam has been enriched naturally by 28 forest reservers, existence of many of them has remained in hoardings only. In the Sonitpur district alone, which is home to 13 reserve forests with total area of 77,064.22 hectares, about 30,943 hectares of forest cover has been eliminated and encroached upon by various sects of people.

Of late, Arunachali...

Guwahati, May 24: When 16-year-old Guwahati student Abhinandan Goswami drew cranes at an art competition this year, he had no inkling that the painting would become the motif of an international campaign for conservation of the graceful winged species. The US-based International Crane Foundation (ICF) informed city-based non-governmental organisation Aaranyak recently that it would put Abhinandan’s painting on its range of promotional clothing, mainly T-shirts.

The ICF is spearheading a campaign to conserve cranes and their habitat, primarily wetlands and grasslands, across the world. Aaranyak...

Kakoijana (Bongaigaon), May 23: A small village of largely illiterate and impoverished tribals is scripting one of the success stories of the joint forestry management scheme, relying more on people power than the might of money to achieve its aim. The Golden Langur Protection Force, comprising residents of Bogoriguri village near the Kakoijana forest reserve in Assam’s Bongaigaon district, was constituted at the initiative of J.U. Ahmed, range officer of the Bongaigaon social forestry range. The organisation has since done more to save one of the world’s rarest primates from extinction than...

Jorhat, May 20: For a change, the army in Assam is not pointing its guns at militants. Instead, the guns are trained at a Royal Bengal tiger of the Kaziranga National Park, which has killed several heads of cattle and even tasted human blood. Park director N.K. Vasu said villagers have been complaining of attacks on their cattle. A few days ago, forest officials tranquillised and caught two cubs, which had strayed into the villages in Dipholoopathar. They were later set free at the park.

However, when complaints of more attacks poured in, an operation was launched to track down the animal.

T...

MARIANI, May 15 – The first-ever survey of gibbon with an object to enumerate their existing numbers, was conducted by the State Forest Department at the gibbon wildlife sanctuary here. The department which conducted the survey during the first week of April announced that seven rare species of primates are existent at the sanctuary.

It is worth mentioning that out of 15 rare species of primates available in the country, nine of them are found in the North East. Out of these, seven are found at the gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary. Detailing the survey report, the Department informed that the...

PATACHARKUCHI, May 14: Squirrels are posing serious threats to betel nut cultivation in the entire area under Bajali sub-division of Barpeta district for the last few years. The area was once considered famous for the production of betel nut and cononut, but now the production is decreasing at an alarming rate due to the squirrel menace.

Squirrels were not seen earlier in the locality at all but it is spreading at an alarming rate. The squirrels have damaged the nuts on a large scale at early stages. The squirrels bore holes even in the hard shells of dry coconut fruits, with their sharp...