GUWAHATI: The All Kamrup (M) District Students’ Union has urged the government to evict all capitalists from Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary, besides properly utilizing the central funds meant for easing out man-elephant conflict.
The appeal from the students’ body came in the aftermath of a wild elephant strayed into Guwahati from the sanctuary walking in the thoroughfares of the metropolitan city.
“Crisis and food and shelter lead a number of elephants straying into human-inhabited areas in search of food. Apart from elephants, other wild animals also create havoc in human-inhabited areas in Guwahati. The area of Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary has shrunk due to encroachment of land by capitalists and other influential people. Though the government, following a directive from the Gauhati High Court, conducted eviction drive in a cement factory and a coke industry, the government is silent on the encroachment from Jorabat to Sonapur. We demand the government to take a tough stand against these encroachers,” said the student union’s general secretary Dibyajyoti Medhi in a statement issued to the media on Wednesday.
Medhi also said that after the allotment of 251 bighas of Amchang land to the NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) and clearing of forest for the purpose has affected the biodiversity of the sanctuary, leading to scarcity of food and habitat for wild elephants. “We appeal to the government to reconsider its decision,” Medhi said.
Besides raising the demand for putting an end to felling of tress and earth-cutting from Amchang, the students’ body also demanded an inquiry into the alleged misuse of funds meant for easing out man-elephant conflict.
Medhi also said: “Under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority, Dispur received Rs 70 crore in 2017-18 and Rs 30 crore in 2016-17 from the Central Government for easing out man-elephant conflict in the State. Bulk of the amount is still unused. As many as 671 people have lost their lives in man-wild animal conflict from 2011 to 2018 in 22 districts in Assam. On the other hand, 100 wild elephants straying into human habitation in search of food were killed from 2013-2016.”
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