A village level awareness meeting was jointly organized on Sunday in the premises of Golagaon NC LP School in Baksa of Assam by the villagers of Koraibari, Sepna NC, Jamguri, Junglebasti and Manas Maozigendri Ecotourism Society (MMES) to sensitize the villagers for the conservation of Batabari Reserve Forest lying adjacent to these villages.
The meeting was attended by Chandra Kanta Basumatary, Brand Ambassador, MoEF, Assam; Dharani Dhar Boro, OSD, Manas National Park; Alok Pathak, RO, Salbari Range; Paulesh Narzary, Gaon Bura, Bongaon forest village; Paban Gayan, OC, Simla police station; Rajendra Singh, OC, SSB Camp, Bongaon; local intellectuals and a crowd consisting of more than 200 individuals.
Kalicharan Basumatary, president, MMES presided over the meeting. The invited guests spoke and sensitized the crowd on topics including the importance and need for the conservation of forest resources; negative impacts of logging and poaching activities; natural heritage of Manas Tiger Reserve; need of community participation in conservation efforts; women empowerment; ecotourism; quality education and maintenance of health and hygiene through cleanliness for the all round sustainable development of the entire region.
Local intellectuals also shared their views and submitted a memorandum for the establishment of a permanent anti-poaching camp near Koraibari under Batabari Range (MTR) to prevent encroachment and rampant logging activities inside the Batabari Reserve Forest.
The meeting ended with the distribution of MMES banners having notices to deter unscrupulous activities inside the aforementioned Tiger Reserve to the village committees.