TEZPUR, Aug 11 - The Kaziranga National Park is set to get bigger in size. This new addition to be officially christened as the 9th addition of the world heritage site will make it bigger by 25.7 sq km.
DFO, Biswanath Range (Wildlife) Mukut Das informed that under the initiative of Sootea MLA Padma Hazarika, the Assam Government has decided to hand over this land area to the Kaziranga National Park authority. This land area will be officially handed over by State Government on August 15.
It is worth mentioning that this huge chunk of land in the riverine area of Jiabharali river was encroached upon by Bangladeshi nationals. However, recently under the initiative of Padma Hazarika, the Sonitpur district administration evicted the illegal settlers freeing about 25.7 sq km land area which has been added to KNP. This area will now be under the Biswanath Forest range.
On Monday, a forest officials� team led by Kaziranga National Park Director, P Sivkumar performed bhumi puja for the newly-added land area. On the otherhand, the Forest department is planning to build up the area as a tourists� hotspot. The KNP authority is hopeful that the river dolphin found in Jiabhrali in this area will be the major attraction for tourists. Talking to this correspondent, Sootea MLA, Padma Hazarika mentioned that with the addition of this land area to the KNP, illegal settlers settled in thousand bighas of government land in different char areas including Mokwa Chapori will be evicted soon.
