Tree felling and encroachment rampant in Bodoland reserve forests; Elephant carcass found inside Raimana National Park

KOKRAJHAR: Felling of trees, poaching and massive encroachments are taking place in the reserve forests of BTC has proved the failure of concerned department in protecting reserve forests. The recovery of elephant carcass on Sunday by forest department deep inside the Raimana National Park under Sanfang Range in Kokrajhar district has indicated the illegal activities even in the national park as tusk of the elephant was removed and taken away.

According to Biswajit Basumatary, forest range officer of Sanfang range, staff of the range heard a gun shot some days ago in ride no 8 under Sanfang range inside the Raimana National Park. He said the staff of the range recovered the elephant carcass in the park whose tusk was taken away. He said the elephant could have been shot dead by poachers. He also said an unborn baby elephant in the womb was found hit with bullet in the post mortem report.

The Raimana National Park was the newest national park in Assam with River Sankosh in the west bordering West Bengal and Bhutan in the north. The Raimana National Park has various species of wild animals and home of asiatic elephants. The park is also a habitat of endangered species like golden langur, pangolin and hornbill etc. Once known for having the largest sal trees in Southeast Asia, the whole Raimana National Park area has been devastated by enormous encroachments and unrelenting timber smuggling.

On the other hand, the illegal encroachments are going on unabated at Ripu and Chirang reserve forests. Most of the reserve forests become denudated which has posed a serious threat to the habitat of wild animals. The EM of Forest, BTC Ranjit Basumatary has carried out series of eviction drives in different places with strict order but most of the encroached areas are re-encroached. Besides, the forest lands grabbed by politicians, departmental officials and individuals with strong economic background has become a major cause of concern as most of them have occupied vast portion of forest lands to grow betel nut, rubber and tea plantation etc. Some big politicians are involved in occupying forest lands in BTC.

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