Assam: Orang National Park Gets an Extension of 200 Sq Km

ORANG: Orang National Park, which used to be the smallest national park in Assam, will no longer be confined to the 78 odd square kilometers as the Assam Government on Thursday has decided to add another 200 square kilometers of area to the park which would also include some islands and sandbars of the Brahmaputra river. 

With this new extension now the park will stretch for a total of 279.13 square kilometers. A gazette notification was published about this new extension by Additional Chief Secretary (Environment and Forest) Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday.

The Divisional Forest Officer(DFO) of Mangaldai Wildlife Division Pradipta Baruah in a statement said, "This new extension of the park will allow us for better conservation of the species living there". 

According to the gazette notification, after the second addition to Orang National Park, its eastern boundary will be near Singori of Dhekiajuli in Sonitpur district, touching the western boundary of the first addition of Burhachapori Wildlife Sanctuary. Similarly, the western boundary will be extended up to the Shyampur area in the Darrang district.

With this new extension, the Orang National Park will now be connected to the Kaziranga National Park (KNP) using the Brahmaputra islands as connectivity corridors and habitats across a 180-km-long Brahmaputra riverine area from the west of ONPTR to the east of KNP, DFO Mangaldai Division, Baruah said.

This will in the long run help in better conservation of the wildlife species because animals move between the Orang and Kaziranga stretch and thus many man-animal conflicts also arise because of this. With this new extension, all the people living in this stretch will be moved which would lead to lesser man-animal conflict. 

This extension was much needed because the Tigers and Rhinos of Orang National Park love to spend their time in the islands and sandbars of Brahmputra and with this extension, all those areas will come under the National Park now. 

Also Read: Authorities Of Namdapha National Park Boost Surveillance To Stop Encroachment

Also Watch: