KOHORA, April 11 � The historic Arimora Forest Inspection Bunglow(IB) near the bank of the Brahmaputra deep inside the Kaziranga National Park, which happens to be very popular with dignitaries coming to enjoy the scenic beauty of Kaziranga, is on the verge of extinction due to massive erosion caused by the mighty river, thanks to the indifferent attitude of both the Union as well as State governments.
Right from the Central Ministers under various regimes to the Chief Minister of Assam, everybody visited Arimora Forest IB only to express mere words of concern towards the problem caused by erosion which has in fact washed away a vast virgin grassland area of Kaziranga National Park (in Arimora) considered to be an ideal habitat of the wildlife including the rhino, elephant, tiger etc.
Erosion had washed away more than 30 sq km area of the National Park in Kaziranga. Arimora Forest IB which was 100 meters away earlier, is now almost on the bank with Brahmaputa flowing just 28 metres away from the inspection bunglow. On the other side of the IB there is a small Shiva temple constructed by the department for the forest guards to worship, which is now just on the edge of the bank . �Only the Shiva temple is somehow saving this IB,� said a forest guard to this correspondent while visiting Arimora.
�Arimora has already lost its past glory . So many VIPs used to come here only to give false assurances with regard to protection of Arimora,� said another forest staff. Last year the Union Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh too visited Arimora to note the situation.
Though the government has announced a scheme ( amounting to Rs 177 crore and 56 lakhs ) for protection against erosion in Kaziranga, practically nothing concrete can be seen on the ground in Arimora. The porcupines were erected earlier to divert the water current and thus control the erosion but more needs to be done . Sources said that though porcupines could be effective in terms of diverting the current of water thereby reducing the impact of the force created by the current, but the bank of the river Brahmaputra needs to be protected by stone barrier so that not much damage could be done on the soil surface on the bank.
The director of the Kaziranga National Park, Surajit Dutta said that something would be done soon to get rid of the problem. He said that he had already drawn the attention of the Union Government with regard to this situation in New Delhi and was quite hopeful that some measures would be adopted to solve it. Now time is simply running out. If the government is really serious about this problem, then Arimora must be given first priority in terms of sanctioning of funds and other resources.
