A correspondent
Boko: Unidentified miscreants took advantage of the night hours and started earth-cutting on the Dholmara hills near Langkona village under the Boko revenue circle. The incident came to light when the anonymous villager from Raimapur village (near Langkona village) informed the matter. The spot falls under the Bamunigaon Forest Range Office. While asking the matter to the range officer Aminul Islam, he replied that he did an investigation on this matter and asked to show documents of permissions for cutting the hills. However, according to Ranger Aminul Islam, those cutting the hills replied to him that they have documents of permissions.
On the other hand, while asking the matter of permission to the lat mandal Purna Langthasa of the Boko Revenue Circle, he replied that till date, during his tenure, which is around two months, no one has come to ask for permission for the mining of the area in the Boko Revenue Circle Office.
Anonymous villagers from the Lankona area expressed their anger that this kind of thing, like hills mining, deforestation, and other related matters, is creating global warming. "Now we are using fans and ACs in the month of November instead of using sweaters and jackets like in past years." He also said, "November was much colder 10 years ago, but due to the deforestation and hill cutting in the area, the weather has changed, and now we are suffering from heat."
On the other hand, some anonymous people of the Boko area expressed anger over the Forest Department, as they alleged that the range offices under the Kamrup West Division only did supreme duty on National Highway 17. Some conscious people of the area also alleged, "But they have totally failed to control deforestation, illegal charcoal business, human-elephant conflicts, forest encroachment, and other problems that are happening in the rural and remote village areas and reserve forests."
However, while asking about the matter to the in-charge of Protection Range, Chabin Das, he replied that the range office does not have any vehicle for duty, and therefore they failed to take actions against the illegal activities.
It is worth mentioning that, recently this week, in order to stop illegal hill cutting, collection of boulders, sand, and excavation in Kamrup district, the District Commissioner and District Magistrate, Kamrup, Deba Kumar Mishra, issued an order constituting 7 nos. of task forces for North Guwahati, Palashbari, Hajo, Boko, Kamalpur, Chaygaon, and Rangia Revenue Circles of the district.
The task forces will surprise check the areas where illegal hill cutting, earth cutting, boulder, and sand excavation are taking place without permission from the district administration. They will take appropriate action against offenders as per existing rules and will also work to stop illegal hill/earth cutting, boulder/sand extraction, illegal blasting, etc. Additionally, the task forces will submit action taken reports to the district commissioner through the monitoring officers.
The task forces will be headed by the circle officers as follows: For Boko Revenue Circle (under Kamrup West Division, Bamunigaon), Boko Revenue Circle Officer and Executive Magistrate Dibas Bardoloi led by Revenue Circle Officer (Attached) Soma Roy and Range Officer Bhargav Hazarika of Singra Range (for Singra Range) and all Beat Officers, Bondapara Range Officer Animesh Kalita, Enforcement Inspector Padum Bahadur Lama, and the Police Officer-in-Charge of Boko Police Station Phanindra Nath, the force has been formed. The task force was led by Additional District Magistrate Pranjit Kumar Deb of West Kamrup Division Bamunigaon, Forest Division Officer Subodh Talukdar, Additional Superintendent of Police Kalyan Pathak, District Transport Officer Manoj Kumar Chowdhury, and Assistant Commissioner Rakesh Kumar Thakur, and Nagarbera Revenue Circle Officer (Attached) Iftikhar Hussain.
On the other hand, for the Chaygaon Revenue Circle (West Kamrup Division, Bamunigaon) led by Chaygaon Revenue Circle Officer and Executive Magistrate Chiranjit Das, Range Officer Aminul Islam, and all beat officers, Assistant Enforcement Pactor Jayant Patgiri, and the police officer-in-charge of Chaygaon Police Station. The task force was also led by Additional District Magistrate Pranjit Kumar Deb, West Kamrup Division; Bamunigaon Forest Division Officer Subodh Talukdar; Deputy Superintendent of Police Rajiv Shaikia; District Transport Officer Manoj Kumar Chowdhury; and Assistant Commissioner N Ranabir Singh and Bidyut Kalita, Zonal Development Officer, Chaygaon.
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