A visit to India-Bhutan international border would reveal this horrific truth of forest destruction. All the PRF (Proposed Reserve Forests ) namely- Neewly, Kundarbi and Bhairabkunda etc have been encroached by various people and organisations. Even 450 bighas of forest land had been allotted to one Brahmo Sewashram on Neewly hills near Bhutan ,for commercial use. (Actually the organisation has illegally encroached more than 2500 bighas of forest land,as per report of the Circle Officer,Harisinga Revenue Circle. Memo No.HRC/S-27/2001/98 Dated 01-01-2006 )The Circle Officers working in Harisinga Revenue Circle,Udalguri Revenue Circle and Mazbat Revenue Circle earned millions of rupees during 1990-2006 period by allotting pattas to the encroachers. The Lat Mandals and Kanangus offered full cooperation in the matter in return of huge amount of money. This is the untold story behind so called man -elephant conflict in the district. Bornadi Wildlife Sanctuary and Khalingduar Reserve Forest have virtually been shrinking day by day. Banana and bamboo trees are vanishing fast in the forests because of roaming of thousands of domestic cattle inside the forest causing food crisis for the wild elephants. A full grown wild elephants needs 170-200 kg of food items and 80-200 litres of water daily. It can easily be assumed what amount of food and water a herd of wild elephants (generally 10 to 20 in a herd,but sometimes there are more than 100 ) would require daily.
Unfortunately with the destruction of forests,several herds of wild elephants have started coming down to villages in Udalguri district in search of food and water. The deaths of seven wild elephants and seven human beings in the district during last three months alone have proved the seriousness of the problem. Lack of fund,material and man power forest department could not meet the situation. There are only 65 numbers of forester and guards in the Dhansiri Forest Division.It is near impossible for them to cover areas from Bogamati to Pachnoi. In each Range Office,the working field duty staff number is not more than 20. Read the full report here.
Source: Jayanta Kumar Das, Assam Times.
