GUWAHATI, May 17 � The Assam Environmental NGO Forum has urged the State government to take up immediate steps to conserve and protect wetlands, as they are bearing the brunt of growing anthropogenic and industrial pressures.
The annual session of the forum was held at Bhagawati Prasad Baruah Bhawan on Saturday where several environmental NGOs of Assam, including Aaranyak, Kaziranga Wildlife Society, Centre for Conservation, Education and Research, Early Birds, Aranya Surakshya Samiti, Evergreen Earth, Green Society, etc., took part in the session to discuss a few burning environmental issues of the State.
Environmental activist Moloy Baruah of Early Birds presided over the open session. Mubina Akhtar of Centre for Conservation, Education and Research (also the coordinator of the forum), read out her annual report. She specifically mentioned a few important environmental issues, like the man-elephant conflict in Udalguri district villages bordering Bhutan where 56 people and 26 wild elephants have been killed in the last three years.
Immediate need for rehabilitation of people living in the core area of Dibru Saikhowa National Park and at other places was also mentioned in the annual report.
The forum in its report thanked �Elephants on the Line� of Udalguri for successfully working in human-elephant conflict villages in the district. The forum also appreciated Aaranyak for their conservation efforts for river dolphins in the State. Udayan Borthakur of Aaranyak read out the new constitution of the forum which was later approved in the session.
Environmental activist and journalist Pranoy Bordoloi, while addressing the members, offered to work hand in hand for the conservation of flora and fauna of Assam. The session was also addressed by Gunadhar Konwar, Dr Bibhab Talukdar, Jayanta Das, Nitul Sibam Nath, Rajesh Dutta Baruah, among others.
A new central core committee was formed with Nitul Sibam Nath as coordinator, and Mubina Akhtar, Moloy Baruah, Pranoy Bordoloi, Dr Bibhab Talukdar, Jayanta Das, Gunadhar Konwar, Prabal Bujarbaruah and Raj Phukan as core members.
