A CORRESPONDENT
LAKHIMPUR: One of the most beautiful natural landscapes of Lakhimpur district is Dulung Reserve Forest located under Kadam Revenue Circle. It is an evergreen forest, not just famous in India but in Asia also. The Reserve Forest covers three beats under Lakhimpur Forest Division. Geological existence of hills to the north of it, several water bodies like streams, and marshes have added to the beauty to the natural environment of the Reserve Forest.
The Asia famous medicinal plant, locally known as 'Siya Nahar' (Media ferrea) is found only in Dolung Reserve Forest. In addition to it, various species of invaluable timber trees like Titasonpa (Telaum phellocarpa), Segun (Teclona grandis), Jutuli (Allingia exelsa), Gomari (Gomeliana arborea), Gandhasoroi (Chinnamonium glanduliferum), Bon-Bogori (Ziziphus rugosa), Bon-Chom (Phoebi lanceolata) along with various species of medicinal plants, common and rare species of orchids are also available in the Reserve Forest. Moreover, this reserve forest is the habitat of wild elephant, hog, wild boar, leopard cat, deer, porcupine, slow loris, polecat, pangolin, various species of reptiles, butterflies. The important species of avifauna found in the Reserve Forest are the Himalayan Griffon (Gyps himalayensis), Rufous-breasted Blue Flycatcher (Ficedula hodgsonii), Slaty Flycatcher (F. tricolor), Ferruginous Flycatcher (Muscicapa ferruginea), Chestnut-headed Tesia (Cettia castaneocoronata), and many others.
According to several environmental specialists and scientists, the evergreen Reserve Forest has played a vital role with regard to protecting the ecological balance and checking global warming covering a larger area. A village named Dulung is also located in the jurisdiction of the Reserve Forest. The State Government has earned a heavy amount of revenue from the mining areas located in the Reserve Forest.
But unfortunately, the Reserve Forest has lost its natural beauty, forest areas and resources due to the impact of extensive encroachment by people from the neighbouring State of Arunachal Pradesh as well as native people. The aggressive people from across the border have unabatedly caused massive deforestation and destroyed forest resources in the Reserve Forest. They have killed the wild animals by hunting them for meat and enjoyment. Simultaneously, timber smugglers have also destroyed the invaluable species of timber trees by cutting and selling them for their individual gain, due to which the Asia famous Siya Nahar is on the verge of extinction at present.
Under such circumstances, the people of the district have raised demand to declare the Reserve Forest as a wildlife sanctuary in order to save it from the jaws of destruction. In this connection, Dulung Subansiri Conservation Society president Rajat Hazarika and general secretary Majin Sonowal have appealed to Environment and Forest Minister Parimal Suklabaidya to take effective steps at the earliest. By submitting a memorandum to the minister, the organization has urged him to redeem the reserve forest from encroachment, to deploy adequate number of forest guards to secure the forest resources, to adopt a special project and scheme to conserve the Siya Nahar, to identify and secure the elephant corridors to check human-elephant conflict and to shape the Reserve Forest as a tourist hub.