Assam: NGT Orders Probe into Industrial Encroachment Near Assam’s Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary

GUWAHATI: The Principal bench of the National Green Tribunal has ordered setting up of a joint committee to probe claims of industrial encroachment and environmental degradation near Assam's Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary. The order came on August 27, 2024, after growing concerns by locals on the proliferation of brick kilns, cement factories, and stone quarries that are eating into the proposed eco-sensitive zone of this precious sanctuary.

The order from the NGT came after a letter written by Utpal Saikia and concerned citizens over attempts by a local industrialist, Dilip Chetry, to set up a brick kiln and other industrial facilities within the eco-sensitive area of the sanctuary. Ecologically, Pobitora is rich in biodiversity and houses the famous one-horned rhinoceros, Indian buffaloes, deer, wild boars, pangolins, and many varieties of migratory birds, making it an important ecological zone.

This order of the Tribunal underlines the imperative need to preserve this fragile ecosystem seriously threatened by the oncoming industrial activities causing an imbalance to the environment. The formation of this committee is thus a major move to secure the future of the sanctuary by drawing together representatives of important environmental agencies. The committee is to be made up of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Assam State Pollution Control Board, Central Pollution Control Board, and Principal Chief Conservator of Forests for Wildlife in Assam.

The Committee so constituted shall undertake on-the-spot visit, examine actual situation, and submit detailed factual report within a month by the aforesaid date. The Central Pollution Control Board shall be the Nodal Agency for necessary coordination and compliance with the aforesaid directions of the Tribunal.

As the next hearing is coming up on October 4, 2024, it is by all proactive steps certain that NGT would ensure the integrity of Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary, which seems to fail in front of rising industrial pressures. The whole world is struggling with environmental challenges, but the case had again and again shown the role of local people in saving the ecology around them and quick action on the part of the government to stop any kind of ecological damage.

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