Digboi: The Digboi Forest Division, custodian of Assam’s last lowland tropical rainforest in Tinsukia district is battling a severe shortage of staff and officials among other adversities.
There is no Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) in the divisional office and six out of seven ranges have no regular and stable forest rangers.
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This leaves vast stretches of the Dehing Patkai landscape and other areas are literally unsupervised or poorly administered.
Spread over more than 64,000 hectares of Reserved and Proposed Reserved Forests, the Digboi Division is home to the Dehing Patkai National Park and forms a part of the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve.
This “Amazon of the East” harbours extraordinary biodiversity, including seven species of wild cats, elephants, hoolock gibbons, hornbills and 111 species of orchids.
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“Leaving the vast resources under protection due to lack of staff could have irreversible consequences for the Northeast’s ecology,” said a local environmentalist closely associated with the division.
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“Our division covers over 64,000 hectares, but without an ACF in the divisional office and with only one regular ranger post functioning at Lekhapani, effective patrolling is almost impossible,” admitted a source at the forest division on condition of anonymity.
The Digboi forests are Assam’s rainforest jewel.
But without adequate staff and officials at the headquarters, the fight against encroachment, poaching, timber smuggling and mining is a losing steam, lamented an office bearer of a local NGO working for the preservation of flora and fauna in the district.
“Stronger and urgent government support is imperative,” said a conservationist working in the region.
When contacted, BV Sandeep, DFO, Digboi remained non-committal.
He said that authorities have launched awareness and eco-tourism initiatives such as the Dehing Patkai Eco-Discovery Centre and Bogapani Arboretum, while deploying camera traps and anti-poaching drives.
“We are confronting some issues in some vulnerable border areas, but have effective strategies in hand to protect our land and resources,” he added.
Notably, a retired ranger of the Division said that most of the ranges have been administered by either Deputy Rangers or Foresters following their retirement or transfer.
This raises pertinent questions on competence and efficiency in protecting a vast forest territory.