Saving Pobitora

It is a matter of grave concern that several wildlife sanctuaries and reserved forests are facing increasing threats to their very existence every passing day. While Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary adjoining the city of Guwahati has been shrinking at a rapid pace, the latest in the line is Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, a unique natural habitat not very far away from the Assam capital. As has been reported, a number of brick kilns and tourist resorts have come up in the proposed eco-sensitive zone (ESZ) surrounding Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, which has posed a serious threat to the ecological balance in the area. Government measures to protect the wildlife sanctuary do not appear to be adequate enough, and this has become evident from notices issued by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to all the authorities concerned, asking them to submit their responses on this sensitive issue within two weeks. It was in August this year that the NGT had registered a suo moto case after receipt of a complaint according to which several commercial structures had sprouted in the proposed eco-sensitive zone surrounding Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary. Following this, in August this year, the NGT constituted a joint committee with members from the Union Ministry of Environment Forest, the Assam Forest Department, the State Pollution Control Board, and a few others and directed it to pay a visit to Pobitora and submit a detailed report on the alleged construction of commercial structures in the proposed eco-sensitive zone. Swinging into action, the joint committee visited the area on October 18 and submitted its report to the NGT on November 4. As reported in the lead front-page news story of this newspaper in its Saturday edition, the report has said that the committee found several brick kilns and resorts within the proposed eco-sensitive zone around Pobitora. It is pertinent to note that there is a standing order of the Supreme Court of India, according to which all national parks and wildlife sanctuaries falling under protected forest must have a minimum distance of one kilometre earmarked as an eco-sensitive zone, and that setting up of any permanent structure within that demarcated eco-sensitive zone is prohibited. Based on this order of the Supreme Court, the Assam Environment and Forest Department urged the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest to issue a notification declaring the one-km area around Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary an eco-sensitive zone. Unfortunately, as has been reported, the Union Environment Ministry is yet to issue its notification in this regard. Taking advantage of this, land-hungry elements have pounced upon land available within the proposed eco-sensitive zone and taken to construction of various commercial establishments. It is true that Pobitora, which has the highest density and concentration of the endangered one-horned rhinoceros in the world, has started attracting more and more visitors every passing day, because of which the demand for various services related to tourism has also increased. But then, it is also a fact that increased commercial activities, which are bound to cause all kinds of pollution, will only threaten the wildlife habitat. Thus, it is imperative that Dispur take a call on the issue at the earliest and impress upon the Union Environment Ministry to immediately issue the necessary notification declaring the eco-sensitive zone around Pobitora.