Environment / Assam

MANAS, Dec 23: Notwithstanding the broken-down infrastructure, the flow of foreign tourists to Manas Tiger Reserve is increasing day by day. Its name and fame attract tourists from various corners of the world. But now the famous attraction of the State is crying for urgent repair of its infrastructure. Almost all the infrastructure, the approach road from Barpeta Road town, the bridges along the road, forest bungalows, the internal facilities for tourists all are in a bad shape in sharp contract to the naturally endowed splendid beauty of the reserve. The Manas Tiger Reserve, in the foothills...

NEW DELHI, Dec 23: It is again bad news for Assam with the Central Government drastically slashing down its demand for assistance of Rs 1,134.45 crore to Rs 70 crore for relief and restoration work in the wake of floods this year. In a written reply to a question tabled in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Home Affairs Swami Chinmayanand said that Government of Assam had submitted a memorandum seeking assistance for relief and restoration measures for various sectors, including infrastructure, in the wake of floods this year. The high level committee that met in October to consider the demands...

Guwahati, Dec. 21: He has spent the better part of his life protecting one of the world?s rare animals, the rhino, from poachers. Now, with recognition coming his way, he is exhibiting that even rarer quality called modesty. Bhupen Talukdar, conservationist extraordinary, was recently chosen for the Sanctuary-ABN AMRO wildlife service award from among hundreds of nominees. He was also named ?Earth Hero for 2003?, the archetype of the growing breed of ecology activists who have devoted their lives to the task of protecting the environment.

But Talukdar, who has defended the endangered rhino...

GOALPARA, Dec 20?After three month?s respite from the havoc caused by rampaging elephants, people of some parts of the district are once again compelled to spend sleepless nights anticipating depredation by wild elephants. Wild elephants pose threat to the population of a large part of the constituencies of Goalpara East, Goalpara West and Dudhnoi every year, killing people, damaging crops and vegetables, destroying houses and other belongings. Knowledgeable circles feel that denudation of forest cover in Goalpara district and more particularly in adjoining Meghalaya compels the pachyderms to...

DIBRUGARH, Nov 19 ? 25 families of the Lezai-Sessa area, south-west of the city have been rendered homeless by a herd of wild elephants in the past few days. The affected families have been provided shelter at a relief camp, which was opened on Tuesday under the auspicious of a local NGO, Asom Bikash Mancha. The district administration Wednesday chipped in by giving away some blankets and foodstuff.

Angry villagers of the Lezai area Wednesday afternoon sat in a demonstration on the national highway at Sessa Tiniali, 16 kms from here. They dispersed after senior officials of the district...

NEW DELHI, Dec 15 ? While ruling out the possibility of convening a meeting of chief ministers to discuss the issue of inter-linking of rivers, the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) has clarified that it has no proposal under consideration to impose cess, taxes and duties to mobilise funds for the Project. In a significant admission, the MoWR has confirmed that the Task force on river linking Project has moved the Ministry of Defence for security clearance to place digitalised maps of the topography maps of the rivers on its web site besides using them for other purposes such as preparation...

Jorhat, Dec. 14: To the outsider, Changmaigaon is no different from the numerous villages that dot the countryside in the oil-rich belt of Sivasagar district in Upper Assam. But a silent revolution is taking place beneath the rows of neatly trimmed cash crops there. A unique formula devised by the Jorhat-based Regional Research Laboratory (RRL) is changing the face of the once-barren land ? caused by oil spillage from drilling sites of the ONGC ? and bringing hope to thousands of people in Upper Assam.

Acres of land in Upper Assam, close to drilling sites of the ONGC, lose their plant-bearing...

ITANAGAR, Dec 14: Union Minister for Forest and Environment TR Balu assured Arunachal Power Minister Lijum Ronya that stringent laws might be relaxed to facilitate the Lower Subansiri hydro electric project. Ronya, said in a press release here on Saturday that during his meeting with Balu in New Delhi on Wednesday, the Union Minister assured him that he would see that the condition put forth by the National Wildlife Board that the catchment area of Lower Subansiri should be declared as a National Park to net forest clearance for the 2000mw first phase of the hydro-electric project was relaxed...

NEW DELHI, Dec 12 ? In a first-ever attempt of its kind to save Majuli Island, Assam Government and Satradhikars have jointly called for expeditious clearance of Rs 30 crore project to protect the Island besides demanding a bridge across Barhmaputra connecting Jorhat and Lakhimpur districts. A joint delegation led by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, few of his ministerial colleagues, four senior Satradhikars today urged Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to come to the rescue of the seat of the Vaishnavite culture.

The delegation of the Satradhikars included Pitambar Dev Goswami of Aauniati Satra...

Dibrugarh, Dec. 11: Elephant menace is sending people in the rural areas of Upper Assam districts of Tinsukia and Dibrugarh scurrying for shelter. Altogether 22 families are taking shelter in Kathallbam L.P. School in Larua Mouza under Moran Assembly constituency to protect themselves from the wild elephants.

According to the villagers, the elephants have destroyed standing crops worth lakhs in 50 villages. The tuskers have come from the nearby Medela reserve forest. They said nearly 100 wild elephants, which have been destroying crops this year, have razed about 40 huts.

?We start preparing...