Assam Forest Minister Pradyut Bordoloi today said that if the forest protection measures are not implemented on a war footing, Assam would turn into a desert within a few years time. Bordoloi said that a huge stretch of forest land stretching from Kokrajhar to Dhemaji on the north bank of the Brahmaputra is under the group of encroachers. Rampant felling of trees despite the Supreme court's ban is solely responsible for the fast depletion of forest cover in the State.