Assam: Concerns Raised Over Cutting of Trees in Digboi

DIGBOI: Local people have raised concerns regarding the cutting of a large number of valuable trees in the past few days in the Digboi town of the state of Assam. They also questioned the actions and motives of the state government who first aimed to set the world record for sapling plantation and then allowed the indiscriminate felling of valuable trees in the state.

The incident took place in Digboi where a large number of trees were cut down in the Upper Dihing Forest of the Dhekiyajan locality of Digboi Town. Although the forest department has placed notices warning people not to cut trees, the same has not been followed by them.

According to local sources, this notable number of trees have been cut down by the forest department itself to use the stems as pillars for border fences. Local people have questioned the need to cut down trees for such purposes as this action not only leads to a reduction in the number of trees, but also the fences erected in such a manner have very low longevity. They also added that concrete pillars should have been used in places of these trees and blamed the local officials for the forest department for this activity.

It can be noted that more than 100 such trees have been cut down in recent times, and these trees would have a very high financial benefit if they were allowed to grow and mature. It remains to see if the senior officials of the department take any action towards the continuation of such activities in the state.

In another incident along those lines, the habitat of a large colony of the vulnerable Lesser Adjutant Stork, known locally as the Bortukula was destroyed. The Lesser Adjutant Stork appears in the ‘vulnerable’ category of species under the Red List of Threatened Species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The state of Assam has a good population of this avian species and one of the major colonies of these birds used to nest in a particular locality of Biswanath in Assam. They had nested in a few of the age-old massive trees in the region.

Also Read: Assam: Human Actions Threaten Large Population of a Protected Avian Species

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