Digboi: In a significant boost to forest administration in Assam, the Divisional Forest Office building of the North Kamrup Division at Rangia was inaugurated on Thursday by Environment & Forest Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary.
The event was held in the presence of Sandeep Kumar, PCCF & HoFF, Assam; Bhabesh Kalita, MLA Rangia; the APCCF (Social Forestry); several Divisional Forest Officers; officials of the Forest Department; and members of the public, including villagers from nearby areas.
The new office building, whose construction began in May 2024, has been completed within a comparatively short span.
Sources from one of the beat offices of the division attributed the swift completion of the project to the leadership of DFO Rangia, IFS officer T.C. Ranjith Ram.
According to them, the officer’s hands-on approach and administrative push helped turn plans on paper into bricks and mortar within eight months of his tenure in the division. For the staff and field personnel, the new office provides improved working conditions and operational efficiency.
However, the development at Rangia also illustrates the slow pace of similar infrastructure works elsewhere. The Divisional Forest Office building project in Digboi remains unfinished.
The division has already seen the transfer of two IFS officers who served as Divisional Forest Officers, while a third officer from the Assam Forest Service assumed charge on March 11, an administrative turnover that has not advanced the long-pending project significantly.
The Digboi Divisional Forest Office still operates from a building constructed in 1960, now 64 years old, which insiders describe as being in poor condition.
Although work on a new office complex began in 2024 adjacent to the ageing structure and initially appeared to progress, the project is yet to reach completion and is moving forward slowly, according to observers.
The completion of the Rangia office compared with the delay at Digboi illustrates differences in project timelines, with some projects finishing on schedule while others take longer to complete.
Officials said the inauguration of the Rangia office strengthens administrative capacity and contributes to Assam’s forest governance framework.