Guwahati: In a glaring indictment of the Assam Forest Department’s failure to protect wildlife habitats, large-scale hill cutting and the alleged filling of an elephant watering site have been reported in the Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ) of Amchang Wildlife Sanctuary, barely a few metres from the protected area’s boundary and adjacent to Guwahati city.
What makes the incident particularly alarming is that the department’s own communication identifies the area as an active elephant corridor. Yet, despite the use of excavators to cut hills and dumper trucks to transport the excavated soil, forest officials allegedly allowed the activity to continue for weeks without effective intervention.
The site, located in the Amsing-Jorabat area, has reportedly witnessed extensive earth-cutting over several weeks. Local residents told Northeast Now that excavators were deployed to carve into the hills, while dumper trucks transported the excavated soil to a wetland inside the Narengi Army Cantonment, where construction-related land filling was allegedly being undertaken.
The apparent destruction of an elephant habitat raises serious questions about the Forest Department’s monitoring mechanism, enforcement of ESZ restrictions and the accountability of officials responsible for safeguarding the sanctuary.
Elephant footprints, dung found at excavation site
During a visit to the hill-cutting site, Northeast Now found elephant footprints and elephant dung, indicating that the area is regularly used by elephants.
Residents said elephants frequently visit a waterbody near the site to drink water. However, the waterbody has allegedly been filled with soil to facilitate construction, while a shed has also been erected in its vicinity. Hills surrounding the area have simultaneously been cut, further threatening the movement of wildlife.
An injured elephant was also spotted walking along a path leading towards the hill-cutting site at Amsing Jorabat on October 25, underscoring the risks posed by human activity in an area regularly frequented by the animals.
Despite these visible signs of elephant movement, the excavation reportedly continued without any effective action from the forest officials concerned, including the range-level authorities and the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO).
Soil allegedly transported from Amchang to Army Cantonment
Residents alleged that several dumper trucks were carrying soil excavated from the hills to a wetland inside the Narengi Army Cantonment.
One local resident, requesting anonymity, told Northeast Now that he had personally tracked a dumper truck from the hill-cutting site to the alleged dumping location inside the cantonment.
A subsequent visit by this reporter to the cantonment revealed that approximately five square metres of the waterbody had been filled with soil.
Sources, however, claimed that official records showed the soil had been transported from Meghalaya. The discrepancy between the alleged source of the soil in official records and the location identified by local residents raises questions that warrant an independent investigation.
No Army official was available for comment despite attempts to obtain a response.
Residents said the hill cutting and transportation of soil continued until October 28.
Forest officials allegedly passed the buck as excavation continued
The Forest department’s apparent inaction becomes even more troubling in light of the sequence of events following a formal complaint by environmental activist Rakesh Hazarika.
Hazarika told Northeast Now that on October 25, after noticing the activities at the site, he immediately emailed the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden of Assam, Vinay Gupta. He also contacted Guwahati Wildlife Division DFO Alekh Saxena and the concerned range officers over the telephone, while keeping other authorities informed.
According to Hazarika, instead of an immediate intervention to stop the destruction, the response that followed exposed an apparent jurisdictional blame game within the Forest Department.
He told Northeast Now that when he contacted Khanapara Wildlife Range Officer Dhrubajyoti Das, the latter initially claimed that the location did not fall under his jurisdiction and pointed towards the Guwahati Territorial Range. Attempts to contact the latter reportedly went unanswered.
Hazarika further said that the concerned DFO was subsequently informed and stated that he would look into the matter the following morning. Meanwhile, the excavation continued.
He also said that repeated attempts to contact the Wildlife Control Room at 0361-2333253 that night proved unsuccessful, with the number remaining unreachable despite being meant to facilitate emergency reporting of wildlife-related incidents.
It was only on the morning of October 26, following the DFO’s directions, that the Khanapara Wildlife Range Officer visited the site.
Forest officials subsequently confirmed that the location falls within the Amchang Eco-Sensitive Zone and that the department had not issued any permission or No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the hill cutting or associated activities.
Forest Department knew about the site, yet destruction continued
Perhaps the most damning aspect of the episode is that the Forest Department was not entirely unaware of the activities at the location.
An ESZ-related notice had reportedly been served on a person at the site in August. This establishes that the department had been alerted to the location months before the latest allegations of large-scale excavation surfaced.
Yet, despite the earlier notice, excavators and dumper trucks allegedly continued operating in the area.
The department has not provided details of the notice, the alleged violations or the action taken against those responsible, despite queries.
If officials had already identified violations at the site in August, how did the activity escalate into large-scale hill cutting and the alleged destruction of a waterbody? Why were the excavators and dumper trucks not stopped at the outset? And who was responsible for ensuring that the ESZ restrictions were enforced?
These are questions the Forest Department cannot simply brush aside by citing jurisdictional limitations.
Who will remove the shed obstructing the elephant corridor?
The immediate stoppage of hill cutting is only one part of the problem. A shed has been erected after filling a waterbody in an area identified as an active elephant corridor. Questions remain over why the structure has not been dismantled and the waterbody restored.
The fact that the activity reportedly stopped only after Hazarika alerted the PCCF (Wildlife) and the matter attracted media attention raises further concerns about the department’s enforcement priorities.
The incident has exposed a disturbing pattern: an elephant habitat allegedly being damaged in a notified Eco-Sensitive Zone, visible evidence of elephant movement at the site, prior departmental knowledge of the location, and yet no timely intervention to prevent the destruction.
For a department entrusted with protecting Assam’s forests and wildlife, allowing such activities to continue until activists and the media raise the alarm is a serious failure of institutional responsibility.
The Forest Department must now explain who carried out the hill cutting, who authorised or facilitated the transportation and dumping of soil, what action followed the August notice, and why the shed and the alleged encroachment into the elephant’s watering site remain unaddressed.
More importantly, the department must ensure restoration of the damaged waterbody, removal of structures obstructing the elephant corridor and accountability for every official whose inaction allowed the situation to deteriorate.
Despite repeated attempts to obtain his response, Assam’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) and Chief Wildlife Warden, Vinay Gupta, was not available for comment on the alleged destruction of the elephant corridor, the department’s failure to intervene in time and the action proposed against those responsible.