Achi news desk-
GUWAHATI: Around five PWD roads, 38 Sarba Siksha Abhijan (SSA) sanctioned government schools, and 38 polling booths have been constructed inside the Sunai Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary, amid hue and cry to clear encroachers from the state’s reserve forests.
The information was revealed in an affidavit filed by the Assam government before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on May 2.
The affidavit speaks of the sacred promises of the Assam government for green budgeting and environmental protection.
In addition to this, the state government has issued land certificates to more than 1,300 encroachers out of 40,000 people who have settled in the Sunai Rufai Wildlife Sanctuary in violation of all official norms.
The schools that were built were used as polling stations.
The NGT accepted the case based on a petition filed by RTI activist and president of Aranya Suraksha Samiti Dilip Nath on September 23, 2023.
In the order, the bench, Justice B Amit Stalker and expert member Arun Kumar Verma directed the Chief Secretary of Assam to file an affidavit detailing the officers who permitted such extensive construction in flagrant violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.
“The affidavit must also explain the inaction of the Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) under whose nose such illegal activities have been allowed since 2017,” the NGT said in its order.
In his petition, Dilip Nath alleged gross violations of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980; The Assam Forest Protection Act, 1986; Wild Animals (Protection) Act, 1972; The Scheduled Tribe and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 and Article 21 of the Constitution of India in the Sonai Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary (SRWS) in Sonitpur district of Assam.
Located at the foothills of the Great Himalayan Range, Sunai Rufai was declared a wildlife sanctuary on October 12, 1998.
This temple was once famous for the bonsun tree (Phoebe hainesiana), which is now rarely seen in the temple.
“But old glory is gone. More than 40,000 people have settled in the wildlife sanctuary. After the BJP-led government came to power, it created several forest villages to allot the land to families, led by Minister of State Ashok Singhal and the head of the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), Pramod Boro,” Nath said.
Singhal represents the Dhekiajuli constituency, under which Batachipur falls.
The government said the land allotment was done under the provisions of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, in violation of all official norms.
According to official records, 85 square kilometers of the 220 square kilometer area of the wildlife sanctuary is under encroachment. The green cover of the wildlife sanctuary is rapidly depleting due to large scale encroachment.
“Since all these are encroachers and not traditional forest dwellers, the forest department has launched seven eviction drives to evict these people from the wildlife sanctuary,” Nath also said.
“There are only 14 recognized forest villages in Sunpitpur district. How can the department create a new forest village? These people are living inside the wildlife sanctuary under the auspices of political leaders since 1998,” Nath also said.
Nath claimed that large-scale construction activities were done in the wildlife sanctuary, which has now become a human settlement.
“When the forest land passed into the hands of encroachers, the entire Sonitpur district and the north bank of the Brahmaputra have to bear the brunt of the human-elephant conflict,” Nath further argued.
Responding to the NGT order, the state government informed the NGT bench that some government schools were functioning within the SRWS and Shradwar Reserve Forest (CRF).
The government stated that an FIR has been registered by the local forest authorities against the School Management Committees (SMC) of these schools.
The affidavit also admitted that the irrigation department is constructing a bead gate on the Jet River within the CRF in violation of rules. One person even set up a tea garden inside the WLS, the affidavit added.
In addition, a contractor built a 5 km long road within SRWS in violation of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and the Forest (Conservation) Act and an FIR was registered against him.
The affidavit stated that some polling booths under Dhekhijuli, Sootea and Rangapara assembly seats were also set up inside the forest land and the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department had installed ring wells in the same wildlife sanctuary.
In its order, the NGT noted that while the affidavit gave details of illegal activities within the wildlife sanctuary and forest reserves, there was no mention of actions taken to remove encroachments and construction to restore the forest.
“Whether he dismantled and restored a forest was not communicated for reasons best known to the joint secretary, who submitted the affidavit,” the order said.
The NGT also directed the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change to file a counter affidavit within four weeks mentioning the actions taken against police officers who allowed the illegal construction and the steps taken to remove them. The NGT will hear the case on July 3.
