GUWAHATI, July 9 - Soumyadeep Dutta, founder director of environment group Nature�s Beckon, has announced that their movement to save the entire area of 500 square km of the rainforest spread over the three upper Assam districts of Dibrugarh, Tinsukia and Charaideo has already been intensified. He has urged the State Government to expand the area of the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS) to 500 sq km and provide this precious rainforest with the required infrastructure that include adequate numbers of protection camps and satisfactory manpower, besides sufficient number of communication gadgets, arms, ammunition and vehicles.
Only after meeting these requirements of the WLS, the government should proceed to develop it into a National Park, or else, the official announcement for attaching the National Park tag to this important forest would serve no purpose, Dutta said, while welcoming the latest change in the government�s approach towards this rainforest.
The Chief Minister had on July 6 directed the Forest Department to prepare a proposal for promoting Dehing-Patkai to a National Park. But the Chief Minister uttered no word on meeting the demand of Nature�s Beckon for expanding the Dehing-Patkai WLS area to 500 sq km. The environment group has been relentlessly fighting for the fulfillment of its demand for declaring the pristine rainforest area of 500 sq km, comprising the inseparably-linked Reserve Forests of Jeypore, Dirak and Upper Dehing as an integrated WLS since 1994. The State Government in 2004 had declared a part of this rainforest, covering only an area of 111.19 sq km, as WLS naming it as Dehing-Patkai.
Dutta says that the need to keep intact the health of the rainforest areas of Arunachal Pradesh, which is so far inseparably linked with Dehing-Patkai and the rest of the rainforest areas in the three upper Assam districts, and clear demarcation of its boundary in the Assam part should also be taken into consideration while developing this rainforest into a National Park.
While initiating steps for keeping intact the health of the Arunachal rainforest in question, the customary laws of Arunachal Pradesh should be kept in view, the demarcation of the entire 500-sq-km area of the rainforest area should be done by erecting concrete pillars and signboards, he said.
The boundary demarcation of the entire 500-sq-km area of this rainforest is very crucial. Jeypore and other parts of this rainforest have still remained unprotected and they are to be brought under protective cover expeditiously. �Rain forest is a boon of nature, we should not forget it,� he asserted.
Meanwhile, Nature�s Beckon has held several rounds of talks with the Nokte people of Arunachal Pradesh to ensure protection of the Arunachal part of this interstate rainforest. Nokte chief Wangling Lowangdong, the supreme authority of the Nokte tribe, besides being a former Speaker of the Arunachal Pradesh State Legislative Assembly, was personally met by Dutta on several occasions. The chief is very much keen on conservation of the Arunachal part of this rainforest. The Nokte tribe has been looking after this part of the rainforest. Many Nokte youths have also come forward to offer their service voluntarily for the protection of this rainforest, which has all the potential to become a heritage forest for the NE people, Dutta said.
He informed that he is in constant touch with the Divisional Forest Officers (DFOs) of Digboi and Dibrugarh Forest Divisions and both of them have clarified that the recent media reports of community hunting and sand or gravel mining inside the Dehing-Patkai WLS are not based on fact.
