A Helpless Minister 

Assam Forest and Environment minister Parimal Suklabaidya on Thursday made a very dangerous statement. What he has said and what has come out in the front page of this newspaper is that illegal trade of sand and stone is still continuing in the State despite continuous crackdown by the Forest department. What can be termed as shocking is the minister’s admittance before this newspaper that the illegal trade of sand and stone cannot run or flourish without the involvement of a section of Forest department officials. And, expressing his helplessness in reining in his own department officials, the minister instead has made an appeal seeking public cooperation to root out such illegal trade. Coming from the minister’s mouth that it is not possible for forest and police officials to go after each and every truck illegally carrying such materials is yet another proof of his helplessness.

While the media have been almost relentlessly focusing on illegal trade in forest produce which is mostly carried out with the connivance of Forest department officials, here is a minister who is now asking the people to inform the Forest department or Assam Police about such incidents. Going by his own admittance, it can be easily deduced that the minister also knows who are his department officials and employees indulging in such illegal acts. But then any lay person can now ask why the minister has not been able to initiate action against such officials. Is there someone more powerful and influential than the Forest minister who is calling the shots from behind the screen? Is there big money behind this massive racket? Is Suklabaidya there as Forest minister just as a rubber stamp? It is of course a fact that Suklabaidya is not the first such minister in Assam with the crucial forest and environment portfolio who has been a helpless spectator to the loot of the State’s valuable forest resources. The State, in fact, has not seen a Forest minister worth his or her name who has been able to stand up and take firm and effective action against erring officials who – according to Suklabaidya himself – are involved in this loot.

Stone, sand, boulder, timber, rhino horn – the list is endless. And then, encroachments on reserved forests, wildlife sanctuaries, wetlands, river-banks and even national parks have been increasing each passing day, with the Forest and Environment minister – and for that matter the entire State government – only choosing to look the other way. The recent trend is of death of wild elephants. Going by unofficial accounts, at least fourteen wild elephants have lost their lives in less than a month’s time, out of which the last six have died in a span of just about 48 hours. The enthusiasm that the BJP-led government of Sarbananda Sonowal had shown immediately after taking over in 2016 to evict encroachers from national parks, reserved forests and wildlife sanctuaries has become a thing of the past. There is even a sort of U-turn that this government appears to have made, by way of reportedly transferring about 250 bighas of land belonging to the Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary to the National Disaster Response Force under Sonapur Revenue Circle.

Additionally, the State government has also reportedly permitted the ITBP to construct its headquarters inside the eco-sensitive zone of Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary. Organisations like the NDRF and ITBP are also exhibiting their insensitivity and irresponsible attitude by seeking and/or accepting such land. This has apparently happened despite a senior officer in the Forest department cautioning the Kamrup metropolitan deputy commissioner that it would have serious adverse impact on the environment and wildlife, including fragmentation of wildlife habitat. That the Forest minister has become a helpless person is also evident from the reported move of the State government to allot a huge plot of land in Kaziranga for construction of a helipad for VVIPs. About the open loot and illegal coal mining in Digboi Forest Division, the less said the better.