Staff Reporter
Guwahati: A total area of 102.37 ha of forest land, including land in eco-sensitive zones (ESZ), land in the core area of Kaziranga Tiger Reserve, and the buffer zone of Manas Tiger Reserve, will be diverted for the construction of infrastructure projects in Assam.
Regarding the diversion of forest land, the National Board for Wildlife has given its nod with some conditions attached.
The project for widening and improvement of 85.675 km of the existing carriageway to a 4-lane configuration of NH-37 (new NH-715) from Kaliabor to Numaligarh section includes a proposal for the use of 20.4284 ha of forest land from the Core Zone of Kaziranga Tiger Reserve and 364.9851 ha (8.6774 ha forest land and 356.3077 ha non-forest land) from the default ESZ of Kaziranga Tiger Reserve.
The Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife was informed that the proposal is for the use of forest land from the Core Zone of Kaziranga Tiger Reserve, forest land, and non-forest land from the default ESZ of Kaziranga Tiger Reserve. The proposal has been recommended by Chief Wild Life Warden, the State Board for Wildlife, and the state government. After discussions, the Standing Committee decided to recommend the proposal subject to several conditions.
In another project, for the doubling of railway track from Bongaigaon-Goalpara-Kamakhya, the Standing Committee was informed that the proposal is for the use of 13.31 ha (0.52 ha of forest land from Deepor Beel Wildlife Sanctuary and 12.79 ha from its default ESZ) in Guwahati. This proposal has also been recommended by Chief Wild Life Warden, the State Board for Wild Life, and the State Government. The Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife has decided to recommend the proposal subject to some conditions.
Moreover, the Standing Committee was informed that there is a proposal for the use of 0.3 ha of land from the ESZ of Deepor Beel Wildlife Sanctuary for the doubling of the railway track between Kamakhya-New Bongaigaon-via Goalpara Town, Assam. The project is another part of the doubling of the railway line project, which is completely inside the ESZ. This proposal was also recommended by the Standing Committee.
There is also a proposal for the use of 68.338 ha of land (36.92 ha of forest land and 31.418 ha of non-forest land) from the buffer zone of the Manas Tiger Reserve for the upgradation of the Chapaguri to Amteka (Bhutan Border) Road in Assam. The proposal has been recommended by Chief Wild Life Warden, the State Board for Wild Life, and the State Government. It has been mentioned in the project proposal that there is no record of significant wild animal movement in the project area, and hence no separate animal passage plan has been submitted. Finally, the Standing Committee decided to approve the proposal subject to conditions.
When forest land is diverted for other uses, like development projects, it is mandatory that compensatory afforestation should be done by the state governments concerned.
It should be mentioned here that the quantum of compensatory afforestation in Assam is considerably less than the land diverted. In the last five years, Assam has completed compensatory afforestation of 1299.75 hectares, compared to the over 1719 hectares of forest land diverted. It will be worthwhile to see what measures are taken by the state government to bridge this gap.
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