KOKRAJHAR: To oversee the denudation of reserve forest, the CEM of BTC Pramod Boro along with EM of Forest and Environment Ranjit Basumatary accompanied by senior officials of BTC on Sunday visited Ultapani reserve forest under Haltugaon Forest Division in Kokrajhar district and supervised the current status of the reserve forest.
In his official networking site, the CEM of BTC said he along with EM of Forest and Environment visited the adjoining areas of Ultapani forest block on Sunday to inspect the drought-affected areas and communities. He said the prolonged absence of rain and rising heat wave has affected humans, animals and vegetation alike. He said they also inspected a nursery in Ultapani, which is part of the Bodoland Green Mission to resuscitate the forest cover of BTC on a war footing. “The Government of BTR is committed to safeguarding the extremely rich and diverse forest resources that nature has so graciously endowed upon us,” he said adding that conservation of forest and its resources as well as its biodiversity would be given due importance. He called upon all to protect the reserve forest and its previous wild animals and other resources and appealed all to join hands for making Bodoland Green Mission a success.
Ultapani reserve forest was an extremely dense reserve forest with valuable Sal trees and there had been a lot of wild animals, reptiles and birds including endangered species. The Asiatic elephant, Royal Bengal Tiger, golden languor, hornbill, mongoose, jungle cat, wild lizard, monkey, snakes and different kinds of deer were available in this reserve forest. Besides, Ultapani is still well-known for various species of butterflies and many conservationists and researchers often come to Ultapani. The famed “Na Bhandar,” from which the river Samokha originates and from which one of its streams flows eastward, is home to the Shiva temple at Ultapani, which is located close the Bhutan border between Bishmuri and Saralpara. The river and its location are known as “Ultapani.” Deep within the dense rain forest, "Na Bhandar" is inaccessible to humans and lacks constant sunlight.
Coming down south from “Na Bhandar” far deeper inside dense jungle, there is an ancient structure of concrete steps. Local people believe it to be one of the encampments of Sikhna Jwhwlao alias Jaolia Dewan, the then collector of Bhutan king who fought with the British soldiers and was martyred in the river Alaikhungri. The Bathou followers used to perform “Kherai Puja” every year in that place called “Sikhnajhar”.
But, most ironically, the Ultapani reserve forest has lost its past glory due to massive felling of trees and subsequent encroachments in the reserve forest. The sal trees and other valuable trees are no longer visible in Ultapani reserve forest. The eastern part of the reserve forest-Lumsung, Laopani bordering Chirang district is occupied by illegal encroachers and the vast areas of western and northern part of Ultapani reserve are also encroached by different communities. Surprisingly, some of the encroachers are Hindi speaking Adivasi people suspected to have been from Jharkhand. As the unabated encroachments continued in the area, the reserve forest was totally depleted from Ultapani to the Bhutan border near Sarpang Zongkhag.
It is worth mentioning the fact that many high-profile individuals from Kokrajhar have occupied plots of forest lands in the Saralpara area. The encroachers clear the jungles of the reserve forest and sell it to the individuals of Kokrajhar town and thus the cutting and clearing of jungles has increased. Employees of various departments including from forest department and politically affiliated individuals have plots of lands in Saralpara area and some of them have already started betelnut plantations.
The Ultapani reserve forest under Chirang reserve was also a part of elephant reserve forest and there was elephant corridor between Ultapani and Manas National Park in eastern part beginning from Khuklung reserve forest but this elephant corridor has almost disappeared in some parts of Khungring-Dadgari near Bhutan border in Chirang district. And the revival of this elephant corridor seems to be impossible as human habitats have occupied almost the whole area. Besides, the western part of Ultapani reserve forest is attached to the part of Raimana National Park just after crossing Swrmanga river. The department of Forest, BTC was seen carrying out eviction drives from time to time but the encroachers re-enter the encroached lands after a couple of weeks. The department is also seen to be stubborn while they start eviction drives due to political pressure as the political parties used to take only advantage out of eviction drives. Kokrajhar witnessed the coming of political heavy weights even from Jharkhand and Dispur when the department carried out eviction in a reserve forest under Haltugaon division nearly a decade ago.
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