GUWAHATI, Aug 21 - The Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) has asserted that the reports based on the site inspection reports of two Assistant Conservators of Forest, Deepika Choudhary and Davinder Suman, on its under-construction golf course encroaching on an elephant corridor and its butterflies park interfering with the natural movement of the butterflies of the Deopahar area are not based on facts.
In a statement here, the NRL has clarified that the golf course is within the boundary wall of the existing NRL township, which was built in 1996. Therefore, the allegation that it is situated in the vital elephant corridor of the Kaziranga-Karbi Anglong Forest Reserve is unsubstantiated, said the NRL in its statement.
It further claimed that the natural topography of that plot of land has not been disturbed and not a single tree has been felled or uprooted in the land demarcated for the golf course and therefore, the reported felling of hundreds of trees without any environment and forest clearance does not hold ground. The existing area had wild vegetation which has been uprooted and the surface has been evened out and fresh grass (turf grass) is being planted to enhance the green cover of the area. The water body inside the proposed golf course area has been developed into a proper stream for the systematic flow of water, it said.
�In fact, new trees are now being planted in a systematic manner and the area is being developed as a mini ecosystem/eco-park which would have the added facility to learn, play and practise golf�� said the NRL.
The high-rise wall with alleged razor-edged barbed wire fencing is being constructed for enclosing the 67 bighas of additional land handed over to the NRL by the Golaghat district administration for the construction of additional dwelling units as part of the NRL�s township expansion plan and not to restrict the entry of elephants. Moreover, the boundary wall is situated about three-and-a-half kilometres from the area demarcated for the golf course and is in no way related to the golf course, it claimed.
It further said that the butterfly valley inside the NRL township is a manifestation of the company�s efforts towards maintaining the fragile ecological balance in an industry environment. This bio-system has been created without disturbing the natural topography of the land with the objective of breeding and rearing endangered species of butterflies. No hillocks of Kaliyani Pahar have been cut and flattened to suit the park.
At least 75 species of naturally occurring, endangered species of butterflies belonging to five broad butterfly families have been listed in the valley. No indigenous plant species has been uprooted in this valley. Rather it is replete with varied flora and fauna, and houses about 6,000 plants endemic to North East India.
Besides, a laboratory and a moth pavilion are also housed inside the butterfly park where entomologists carry out their observations and other research works and it is not built to display butterflies and moths captured in an unauthorised and unscientific manner, said the NRL.
It further maintained that the reported structure with nylon nets all over and meshwork spread all over during the flowering season to hinder the movement of butterflies is a �false statement.�
