GUWAHATI, Nov 30 ? Though eviction drives are carried out from time to time, encroachment of forest areas remains a major problem and according to records available with the State Forest Department, more than 1700 hectares of forest land in the greater Guwahati area is in the grip of encroachers.
Highly placed sources in the State Forest Department told The Assam Tribune that the total reserve forest area in greater Guwahati is about 32,730 hectares, covering eleven reserve forests ? Khanapara, South Amcheng, Hengerabari, Amcheng, Jalukbari, Fatashil, South Kalapahar, Garbhanga, Rani, Gotanagar and Sarania hills and though regular eviction drives are launched by the department to evict the encroachers, it is a tough job to keep the forest areas free from encroachment.
Sources revealed that at least 1500 hectares of forest land was cleared from the grip of the encroachers in a massive eviction drive last year but some of those areas have been encroached again because of the failure of the Forest Department to protect the same.
However, on the positive side, at the request of the Forest Department, the District Magistrate has clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC recently to prevent encroachment of forest land in the greater Guwahati area.
Commenting on the problems faced by the Forest Department to keep the reserve forest free from the grasp of the encroachers, sources admitted that it is a Herculean task to keep the forests free from encroachment. Sources pointed out that the failure of the Forest Department to make proper use of the land free from the encroachment is a major problem for the Department.
Sources said that the ideal way is to go for a massive plantation in the land freed from the grasp of the encroachers, but because of the paucity of funds, the same cannot be done and very often the same land is encroached again.
But of late, the Forest Department, under the ?Seuj Prakalpa?, has launched plantation drives in the reserve forest land in different parts of greater Guwahati in collaboration with educational institutions and corporate houses and in the months of September and October this year, more than two lakh seedlings were planted.
The Forest Department launched a plantation drive near the Gandhi mandap in collaboration with the ABITA, while, students of Maria?s Public School, Faculty School, Dimoria College etc also planted trees under the Seuj Prakalpa in recent months.
Forest Department sources admitted that shortage of staff is another major problem faced by the department to keep the forest areas keep from encroachment, as ?we do not have adequate personnel to guard every inch of the forest land.?
Last year, a number of evicted people alleged that the Forest Department did not have proper markings to identify the forest areas and to do away with the problem, steps have been initiated to conduct a proper survey of the area in greater Guwahati and to put concrete markers. So far about 200 concrete markers have been placed and the process of putting markers in all the forest areas in the city is on. However, the completion of the process again will depend on the availability of funds.
Commenting on the large-scale destruction of forests in Rani area in the last few years, Forest officials said that Assam Forest Protection Force personnel have been deputed to guard the Rani forest and two joint forest management groups have been formed to go for a plantation drive in the degraded area. Each joint forest management group has been entrusted with the job of plantation of trees in 50 hectares of land.