HAFLONG, June 28 - At a time when destruction of forests all over the State at its peak, the villagers of Boljang village of Dima Hasao have taken a pledge to transform a wasteland into a green forest by planting trees to make their village self-sufficient, said KC Singson, the gaonburah of Boljang.
Boljang, a village located 55 km from Haflong on the Mahur-Laisong road was established in the year 1954 and having 39 houses with 318 inmates lacks basic amenities like water supply, medical facilities etc.
As the village has failed to draw the attention of the developmental agencies despite repeated reminders, the villagers decided to stand on their own by generating income with the help of mother nature while preserving and protecting the nature as their mother. �We are farmers. Nature is our mother. We know the land as a mother knows her child. We knew that it would require some preparation but our efforts would yield fruit. That�s what gave us the courage to start�. They started the planting of trees from 2015, and by this time they have planted 40,000 trees and they aim to extend the plantation by 20,000 trees each year. Encouraged by the growth of the trees, Singson said we are planning to transform the entire wasteland in and around our village into a green hill so this project has been named �Green Hill�. After five or six years, we will be getting huge returns out of these trees which will be used for the development of the village. Along with the plantation we have also banned poaching, hunting of wild animals and even using traps to catch birds. We have also decided to develop the natural lake in our village after which the village is named, �Bol� means lake in the Kuki dialect and �Jang� means hill and thus the name Boljang has come up.
Singson said that Dima Hasao district has always been blessed by Nature and is also considered as the greenest district of Assam with the highest coverage of forest despite continuous jhum cultivation. But to retain the name and fame of our district, we can do a lot by transforming all the wasteland into a green forest. In this process, the Government can play the role of a catalyst. He appealed to all the people of Dima Hasao not to allow the wanton destruction of the nature, forest and the environment with the false promises of development.
