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10 years later, we will ask �Where are the elephants?�

By Parbin Sultana Saikia

GUWAHATI, May 30 - The beauty of Assam is defined by its diverse culture, varied flora and fauna, and its heritage. Assam is blessed with 18 wildlife sanctuaries and one such is the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary located in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts.

It is also a part of the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve, and covers an area of 111.19 square km. Known as the �Amazon of the East�, it is one of the most beautiful evergreen rainforests of Assam.

The Dehing Patkai wildlife sanctuary has been facing the menace of illegal coal mining for a long time. But it became �official� on April 7, 2020 when the National Board of Wildlife (NBWL) in its 56th meeting through video conferencing with the Union Minister of Forests approved a coal mining project in the Saleki Proposed Reserve Forest, which is a part of the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve. The NBWL committee has proposed 98.59 hectares of land for the coal mining project by North Eastern Coal Field (NECF), a unit of Coal India Limited.

Assam is known for its one-horned rhinoceros, but we are now left with only a few of those. In the same way, after 10 years, a question will arise �Where are the elephants?�

Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary is blessed with abundant flora and fauna. Mammals like elephant, leopard, tiger, hoolock gibbon, capped langur; birds like slender-billed vulture, white-winged duck, greater spotted eagle, are attractions of this evergreen rainforest. Hollang, Meltai, Dhuna, Nahor, etc., are some of the lovely flora of this forest, and we should all be proud of it.

Since a long time, Assam has been trying to tackle problems like floods, immigration, animal killings, joblessness and many more. In this period of COVID-19, people are starving for food and most likely praying for their lives. This may be the hardest period we have seen. Let us not be so greedy, this Earth is not for humans alone, it is for all the creatures, all the innocent animals. Don�t snatch away their homes, let them live.

Coal mining in Dehing Patkai will have lots of severe consequences. Coal mining releases methane, a greenhouse gas which is 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. It is not less than poison which will kill the inhabitants of the forest. The animals will suffer from diseases, plants will die and birds will disappear � and the forest will be left with zero inhabitants.

During the lockdown, we have seen birds flying freely, animals wandering on the roads, and dolphins were again seen in rivers. This was a happy period for them.

How excited we get when we enter the Kaziranga National Park, Pobitora or Manas, and see the tigers, rhinoceros, migratory birds, buffaloes and many other species. But for humans, this is not real happiness. Real happiness lies only in money. So, now we are converting an evergreen rainforest into a mining area. Where will the animals go? Loss of animal habitat may also lead to man-animal conflicts.

From the time of industrialisation, humans have been the major contributor of greenhouse gases. The whole world is now heading towards a climatic catastrophe. Global warming, ozone layer depletion, melting of glaciers and many more issues are affecting the environment. More importantly, this is a period of crisis, when people are suffering. This is a period when we need to support each other, and make efforts for a new beginning. This is not a period to play politics.

The State government and the Centre need to take steps to protect the environment. Let the evergreen Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary be one such step. Let�s save Dehing Patkai, let�s not destroy it.

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