NGT Orders Union Ministry and Assam Chief Secretary to Respond to Encroachment in Sonai Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary

GUWAHATI: The Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Assam, has admitted before the NGT’s (National Green Tribunal) Eastern Zone Bench, Kolkata, that around three lakh people have encroached upon large areas in the Sonai Purai Wildlife Sanctuary in the Sonitpur district of the state.

Based on the admission from the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, the NGT has asked the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change to file an affidavit showing as to what action it has taken in this regard. The NGT has also directed the Assam Chief Secretary to file his affidavit in four weeks.

The order of the NGT bench stated that ‘in the affidavit of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, Assam, it is stated that about 300,000 people have encroached upon in large numbers in the area in question and have cleared low-land evergreen and semi-evergreen forest areas, making permanent houses, occupying large areas of the forest, and cultivating commercial crops such as betel nut trees, coconut, rubber, and tea alongside agricultural crops. It is also stated that about 23,028 claims have been filed under the Forest Rights Act 2006 in Charduar Reserve Forest, Balipara Reserve Forest, and Sonai Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary. A chart has also been filed in Paragraph 11 of the affidavit, showing that about 50,241.00 ha of forest land in the reserve forest and protected areas is under encroachment out of the total area of 73,524.86 ha’.

The present original application was registered on the basis of a complaint letter submitted by Dilip Nath on September 9, 2023, alleging violation of provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, with regard to Sonai Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary in the Sonitpur district of Assam.

The allegation is that illegal roads, bridges, and schools have been constructed by the government within the Sonai Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary, and there is illegal encroachment and depletion of forest.

The bench will hear the case on November 7, 2024.

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