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Assam

  • Manas ready to welcome rhinos from KNP

    The picturesque Manas National Park, is going to add another feather to its cap through translocation of rhinos from Kaziranga National Park within three weeks from now. Almost all the preparations required for this purpose are ready and the much-awaited translocation of the animals will be welcomed by the Manas family soon. Talking to a visiting group of reporters in the Bhuyapara Range Office of the Park yesterday Susie Collis, the co-executive director of International Rhino Foundation who led a team to study the facilities for the translocation told that everything is ready and the rhinos would be brought to Manas within three weeks. The IRF team comprises of Rand of Peiches, Kristi Gerord, Frederieke Howard, Oliver Pagan and Turg Vuller. All of them expressed satisfaction at the ongoing reconstruction work going on throughout Manas. Giving details of the translocation Aninda Swargiary, the field director of the Park told that it is a process undertaken under Indian Rhino Vision (IRV) 2020 which targets at least 3000 rhino population in India by the stipulated time which is 2020. IRV is funded by several international agencies like US Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS), Inter National Rhino Foundation (IRF) and World Wide Fund (WWF) and in Assam it is mainly executed by the Ministry of Forests and Environment and the Wildlife Development Welfare Trust. Swargiary also informed that though the rhinos were scheduled to be translocated a year back, this had to be postponed owing to several technical and infrastructural problems and finally February 12 was fixed for this purpose. But due to unavailability of Immobilon, the drug necessary for tranquillisation of the animal, it could not be executed. But the clue about the availability of the drug was found of late and it is expected that much awaited dream of the people of Assam would be fulfilled within three weeks. Giving an account of the preparation to welcome the new rhinos, Swargiary told newsmen that as many as thirteen camps have been set up all along the park in addition to existing park camps. Fund for the construction has been received from WWF and the BTAD. Wildlife Development and Welfare Trust has given 80 bicycles, 4 motorbikes, 6 boats, 4 rubber boats and 50 wireless sets for strict vigilance. The flow of funds from concerned agencies will be expedited if work is done on time.

  • Gunshots greet AASU delegation on forest inspection

    At a time when illegal felling of trees by timber traders with alleged help from forest officials in the forests of Asom have become the order of the day, a team of All Assam Students' Union (AASU) members and journalists of Sonari town in Sivasagar district visited the Abhaypur Reserve Forest in the district and was able to unearth a shocking picture of the destruction of forests going on inside the reserve. The visit of the AASU members and local journalists to the reserve forest yesterday was undertaken following a citizens' meet on killing of rhinos and destruction of forest land in the State, which was held at Kaziranga recently under the aegis of AASU and Asom Unnati Sabha (AUS). The team witnessed mass felling of valuable trees after they crossed the Nailong River, situated just 2 km from the Namtola Beat of the Reserve. Vast tracts of forest land at sector numbers 26, 27, 28 and 29 of Abhaypur Reserve Forest have become plain fields. The team also witnessed wheel marks of trucks at the area, used for transportation of the logs. Interestingly, the delegation also heard a few rounds of bullet fire inside the forests. According to theories, the bullets are fired to alert the timber traders and their accomplices

  • Chicken die of unknown disease in Tinsukia

    Death of more than a thousand broiler chicken due to a mysterious disease since the last 15 days at Guijan area, 10 km from Tinsukia district has caused panic in the region. Surprisingly, the district administration is yet to ascertain the cause of the deaths, even as the general people of Guijan have started to panic. Meanwhile, allegations are rife that the broiler chicken traders of Guijan are secretly dumping off the dead chicken into the nearby Dibru river. The people are of the opinion that the chicken traders have not informed them so that they do not stop buying and consuming chicken, without being aware of the disease. The traders are playing with the lives of the people, they alleged.

  • Industrial disaster drill at Digboi Refinery

    The National Disaster Management Authority conducted an Industrial disaster drill at Indian Oil Corporation Limited (Assam Oil division's) at Digboi Refinery recently. The drill was conducted to test the preparedness of the civil administration concerned in the event of a major industrial disaster. The scenario envisaged for the disaster involved three mishaps: leakage of LPG at the LPG dispatch unit. Blast in hydrogen bullets in the refinery and leakage of chlorine due to catastrophic failure of toner, occurring almost simultaneously resulting in a large number of casualties. The District Administration, Civil Hospital, Civil Defence, State Fire Service, Police Department, Revenue Department, Indian Oil Corporation Limited (Assam Oil Divisions's) mutual aid partners such as Oil India Limited, Assam Gas Company Limited, North East Electric Power Corporation, Brahmaputra Valley Fertilisers Limited, Coal India Limited participated in the drill. NGOs like Lions Club of Digboi, Rotary Club of Digboi, also participated in the drill. At the concluding session, Brig (Dr) BK Khanna, senior specialist, National Disaster Management Authority, spoke on the various observations made by the expert panel of Brig Khanna, R Dubey, Director, National Disaster Management Institute, Bhopal and CR Deka, Chief Factories Inspector, Asom. He appreciated the response of the various organizations involved in the drill and pointed out the areas where further improvement could be effected. The session ended with vote of thanks from CR Deka, Chief Inspector of Factories, Asom. The National Disaster Management Authority was created after the enactment of the Disaster Management Act of the Government of India in December 2005 to spearhead and implement a holistic and integrated approach to disaster management in India. Since its inception, the authority has been stimulating disaster scenarios in various parts of the country and conducting detailed mock drills on disaster management, sources added.

  • Mega Narayanguri dyke brings ray of hope

    The reconstruction of Naryanguri dyke is going on in full swing bringing ray of hope to the people of that area especially those affected by floods in Barpeta and Baksa district. The construction which started in February 3, 2008 would be completed in March. The Narayanguri dyke was washed away in 2004 by the strong currents of Beki river which was overflooded due to the release of excess water of Kurisshu dam by the Royal Government of Bhutan. As a result Beki river changed its original course and flowed through Kalpani and Palla causing havoc in a number of villages. That year, though the dyke was repaired costing more than Rs 3 crore, the quality of work was poor and it collapsed on July 31, 2007. Since then about Rs 1.5 lakh people in Barpeta and Baksa district has been suffering from floods. On December last year the reconstruction work was formally inaugurated by BTAD chief Hagrama Mohilary, assuring quality work this time. An official with the Water Resource Department informed that the structure of the bundh will be the stronger this time. Depending upon the depth of the water,

  • Kulsi dam gets national status

    The Central Government has declared 14 water resources projects as National Projects for which 90 per cent project cost of irrigation and drinking water component of the project is to be provided as Central Grant. The projects include the Kulsi Dam in Assam, Upper Siang and Nao Dihang Dam Projects in Arunachal Pradesh. The Planning Commission would take up the projects after techno-economic appraisal of the Detailed Project Report and Investment clearance. The projects in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh would be funded on the 90:10 basis. The irrigation benefits from these projects is estimated to be about 21 lakh ha apart from additional indirect irrigation benefits and availability of drinking water, said Union Water Resources Minister, Prof Saifuddin Soz, in a Rajya Sabha reply.

  • Forest Minister urged to save forest resources from smugglers

    Nagaon district tops the list among all districts of Asom in having the highest number of illegal saw mills operating in different prohibited forest reserves. An unofficial source also alleged that the district at present has more than a hundred illegal saw mills which are functioning under the very nose of the forest and police officials. The different prohibited forest areas include Dabaka, Lumding, Kaki, Salana, Chapanalla, Anjukpani, Lawkhowa, Garajan, Ambagan, Borghuli, Amchai, Madartoli and other forest reserves. All of these reserves have now been converted into a haven of illegal timber smugglers, many of whom are being given protection and shelter by a section of powerful political leaders of the ruling party, sources added. In the meantime, the DFO Nagaon has launched several drives against the timber smugglers and illegal saw mills, and have even managed to detect and lay seize to several such mills, notably from Panikhati, Arjuntol, Jagari, Hatichung, Kawaimari, Jakhalabandha, Chapanala, Silghat, Mairabari and Dhing areas. But such operations have proved to be ineffective in curtailing the spread of the net of timber smuggling which is assuming alarmingly proportions in all the forest areas. It has been found that even after the seizure of mills, the proprietors easily manage to free them from the court, due to their nexus with higher officials of the forest and police departments. Recently, owing to the initiative of the forest officials of Salana Range several such illegal saw mills were seized by the district forest officer from different places of Kaliabor area, but no follow-up action has been taken by the forest department against the timber smugglers and saw mills till date. Most of the mills are freely operating is different places of the Samaguri LAC. More than 37 such illegal mills were functioning under the shelter of a section of political leaders of the ruling party of the LAC, it is alleged. It is also alleged by the conscious people of the areas that in the Samaguri LAC itself there are many such mills illegally functioning at Lawkhowa, Ambagaon, and Borghuli. The people of the Kaliabor and Samaguri LAC have requested the Forest Minister of the State, an elected MLA of the Samaguri LAC to give his personal attention to the matter, and to also visit the forest areas to take stock of the situation. It may be mentioned that, Nagaon district alone is endowed with 9 forest reserves, but except a couple of them the others have all turned into barren land due to indiscriminate felling of trees resulting in slow disappearance of the flora and fauna. According to an unofficial source, more than 200 big saw mills are functioning in the district with timbers brought from different forest reserves, in open disregard of the prohibition order of the Supreme court in this direction. If the civil, police and forest department continues to be so indifferent it is not long when forests would altogether disappear from the area. It is worth mentioning that in the last couple of years, encroachment in Lawkhowa wild life sanctuary and other reserve forest is rampant with thousands of encroachers (suspected illegal immigrant Bangladeshis) having entered the forest and feeding off the valuable timber wealth and also eliminating the wild life in the forests. Wild animals have been found to be moving into the neighbouring villages, causing great concern among the department officials and naturalists. The Lowkhowa forest reserve is perceived to be the home of more than 200 varieties of migratory and local birds. However, in view of the depletion of the forest reserves, a conscious section of people appealed to the Forest Minister of Asom who hails from Nagoan to take appropriate measures to save the forest resources and also to take stern measures to punish the guilty, sources added.

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