DIBRUGARH, March 15 ? With the commissioning of the two village forest councils within the Joypur rainforests in the Dibrugarh district today, the region?s first two bio-diversity parks have seen the light of the day. Both are Centrally sponsored projects, with funds being streamed in through the North-Eastern Council. The two village forest councils, which will look after the bio-diversity are the Konwarbam and Abhoypur village councils. Each has a committee comprising the headman, environmentally inclined villagers and a forest department official as the member-in-chief. Today, the councils were handed cheques worth Rs 2,16,000.00 each, which would be used for the implementation of the project. Giving away the cheques, the Dibrugarh-based divisional conservator of forests, F Rahman said this amount is the first instalment, and that more funds would be allotted on a need basis.
At the Konwarbam project, the schemes include a nursery of 1,50,000 saplings to be planted on a 265 bigha plot, and piggery and mushroom schemes. The latter is to help the villagers earn a livelihood. For the Abhoypur project, the schemes include a plant nursery for 1,00,000 saplings on a 190 bigha plot. Here, apart from the piggery and mushroom growing schemes, villagers would also be provided with rickshaws, handcarts and financial assistance to open up grocery stores. Sri Rahman asked the villagers to make optimum use of the available resources, so that more funds can be sought, once the allotted money is well spent. Talking to newsmen later, he said that the projects are a part of the new Assam Joint (Peoples? Participation) Forestry Rules, under which there is provision for community bio-diversity conservation projects. He added that the new rule has been framed with environmental concerns in mind, especially in the light of the rapid depletion of the life giving ozone layer in the atmosphere, as well as unhindered generation of greenhouse gases. Saying that the concept of village forest councils is an attempt at mobilising the people at the grassroots in and around reserve forests, he hoped that the scheme should yield results within two years. He urged the people at large to work towards a greener world so that the current environmental degradation is arrested and reversed.