JORHAT, May 24 - Members of Jorhat district and regional units of AASU today staged a protest in front of the Deputy Commissioner�s office here and vehemently opposed the Central Government�s (National Board of Wildlife) decision to allow coal mining by Coal India Limited in a plot of land (98.59 hectares), which is a proposed Reserve Forest of Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary and the larger Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve in Upper Assam.
The activists led by AASU�s Jorhat district unit assistant general secretary Bijoy Shankar Bordoloi, president and general secretary of Jorhat regional unit of the students� body Arjunmoni Bhuyan and Partha Pratim Bora respectively along with executive member of Jorhat sub-divisional unit of AASU, Chandan Bora, staged the protest by maintaining social distancing and other safety norms to keep Covid-19 pandemic at bay.
The protesters held placards opposing the Centre�s decision and called for withdrawal of the permission granted to carry out coal mining.
Bordoloi told newspersons that it was unfortunate that they (AASU members) had to come to the streets to lodge protest against a decision of the Centre, which will cause severe environmental damage, at a time when Assam along with the rest of India was passing through a critical phase due to the Covid-19 pandemic while the lockdown was in force.
Coming down heavily on the Government, the AASU leader said thatwildlife and nature conservationist groups have expressed deep concern over the Centre�s decision as the wildlife sanctuary and the elephant reserve was a globally known site of great ecological significance.
�The sanctuary and the adjoining area granted permission for coal mining is a storehouse of flora and fauna and home to a wide variety of wildlife and avian species, besides being a pristine habitat of elephants,� Bordoloi observed.
He added that serious concern over manifold increase in incidents of man-elephant conflict due to the Government�s decision have also been expressed by several conservationist groups and persons, besides wildlife and nature lovers, provided mining activity is carried out in the said area.
The protesters demanded the Central Government to withdraw its decision at the earliest.
