DIBRUGARH, Feb 25 — Minister of State for Forests, Pradyut Bordoloi came in for praise from the main protagonist of the proposed Joydehing wildlife sanctuary, Nature’s Beckon. The minister told The Assam Tribune last Thursday that his department is actively working on notifying the proposed sanctuary, “though the name may not be Joydehing.”
Reacting to the minister’s views, Nature’s Beckon’s director Soumyadeep Datta said, “the matter should not hover around the name, all we want is permanent protection of the virgin rainforest and its rich wildlife by declaring it a sanctuary.” He, however, contested the forest minister’s claim that there are several forest villages within the proposed area, and showed documentary evidence to prove that the entire proposed sanctuary area has “zero human population.”
The three contiguous rainforests of Joypur, Upper Dehing and Dirak comprise an area of approximately 800 square kilometre. Within the Dibrugarh forest division of the first forest, there are no forest villages. In the second and third forests, which fall under the Digboi forest division, the following are the forest villages: Jaguri, Namphai, Powai, Makumkilla, Borjan, Dhekiajan, Panbari and Kherjan.
Of these, the last five clusters are also popular as the Lakhipathar and Charaipung forest villages, though these two names do not have official recognition. Datta said that the proposed sanctuary tentatively has 500 square kilometres as its area. It is in the remainder 300 square kilometres that the forest villages are located. As has been publicised earlier, the proposed Joydehing wildlife sanctuary has the richest woodland bird diversity in the country, the richest habitat of non-human primates in the country, a major elephant habitat in Asia and part of an internationally recognised elephant corridor.
The documentation available states that the area has more than 300 species of birds including some rare and endangered varieties like the mountain bambo partridge, grey peacock pheasant, white winged duck, oriental pied hornbill, great hornbill, rufous necked hornbill, wreathed hornbill, Eurasian eagle owl, black baza and Jordan’s baza.
Naturalists generally hold it that permanent protection of the proposed Joydehing wildlife sanctuary and rainforest is of utmost importance to drastically reduce the man-elephant conflict in the upper Assam districts. The three reserved rainforests of Joypur, Upper Dehing and Dira are an important habitat of the Asian elephant. This is because the lush forests provide abundant fodder to the voracious animal. Also, large elephant herds routinely use the three forests as a corridor on the Myanmar–India–Bhutan–Nepal route.
As for the area being a sanctuary of non-human primates, this cluster of forests is the only place in south east Asia where seven species of primates co-exist, though in ever-decreasing numbers. A sanctuary would protect the primates further, as human intrusions would be checked. The primates that are to be found in the area include hoolock gibbon (the only ape species in India), slow loris, capped langur, pigtailed macaque, Assamese macaque, rhesus macaque and the stump tailed macaque.
The movement for the Joydehing wildlife sanctuary has been noticed at the national and international levels. If the Assam forest department gives the matter its due importance – the Forest Minister says he does – the area could also help the state exchequer earn some money by promoting eco-tourism ventures. As for now, the only activity that is being noticed in the place is the continued plunder of timber by smugglers, especially in the Upper Dehing reserved forest, along the Buri Dehing river.