Guwahati: The Assam government’s decision to let Anil Agarwal-promoted Vedanta Ltd use 4.4998 hectares of reserved forest land for oil and gas exploration drilling could adversely affect the Hoolock Gibbons in the sanctuary.
The exploration is designated to take place in the eco-sensitive zone of the Hoollongapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary where elephants, hoolock gibbons and leopards have habitats.
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According to the minutes of its meeting held on July 4, the forest advisory committee (FAC) of the ministry has deferred its decision.
There are reports that Vedanta has mentioned that in case a commercially viable discovery of hydrocarbons is obtained, commercial production will be carried out and hydrocarbon will be transferred through pipeline or tanker.
Here it must be noted that the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Jorhat has said in his report that elephants, hoolock gibbons, and leopards reside in the area.
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Further, it is also said that the project is in a relatively small area and no major construction is anticipated.
“Hence the impact will be minimal and if necessary, a wildlife management and mitigation plan shall be prepared and all precautions shall be taken to cause minimal disturbance to the wildlife and to mitigate man-animal conflict.”
According to the minutes of the meeting, the approach road is an active area for wildlife, especially wild elephant herds.
“The terrain of the proposed area is hilly and the impact in the region due to the removal of trees will disturb its ecological balance, however, this can be reduced by stringently complying towards the prescribed rules and guidelines and also by taking necessary precautionary stabilization measures to avoid landslide,” the minutes of the meeting mention.
The most important is that the consent of the National Board for Wildlife is to be obtained before the final approval as the proposed area is located in the eco-sensitive zone of Hollongar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary.
According to numerous experts, in the case of hoolock gibbons who are canopy dwellers, their movement will be restricted if the habitat is fragmented. So if there is any project then their movement will become a problem.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the hoolock gibbon is marked as “endangered”. There are close to 2,000 hoolock gibbons in Assam.