Guwahati: In the heart of Assam’s Sonitpur district, the Sonai Rupai Wildlife Sanctuary, once a thriving haven for elephants, tigers, and countless bird species, is under siege.
Despite ongoing scrutiny by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Assam government is pushing ahead with a controversial plan to grant land to over 2,400 people living illegally within the sanctuary and the neighbouring Chariduar Reserve Forest.
For conservationists like Dilip Nath, who has spent over a decade fighting to protect these forests, the move feels like a betrayal of Assam’s natural heritage.
The sanctuary, spanning 22,000 hectares, has already lost nearly half its land, 10,000 hectares, to encroachment. Across the region, including Chariduar, Balipara, and other reserve forests, a staggering 50,241 hectares, or 69% of protected forest land, is now occupied.
This has led to a sharp rise in human-elephant conflicts, as displaced wildlife, stripped of their natural corridors, wander into villages and farmlands.
“Elephants don’t have a home anymore,” Nath says, his voice heavy with frustration. “They’re raiding crops because we’ve taken their space.”
The government’s plan, reportedly backed by Irrigation and Health Minister Ashok Singhal, has raised eyebrows. Critics point to political motives, especially with the 2026 Assembly elections looming in Singhal’s home constituency of Dhekiajuli.
In June 2025, the state took a bold step by incorporating 18 forest villages inside Sonai Rupai into the Bodoland Territorial Council, a move Nath calls “an illegal and arbitrary act” that effectively legitimizes decades of encroachment.
The issue isn’t new. Back in 2022, the government granted land under the Forest Rights Act (FRA) to over 1,300 people from 72 villages, allowing settlements for those living in forest areas before December 2005. However, records show encroachments in Sonai Rupai began around 2002, casting doubt on the legitimacy of many claims.
Nath’s 2023 petition to the NGT accuses the government of violating the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, by allowing schools, roads, polling stations, and even tea estates to spring up inside the sanctuary. “This isn’t development,” he wrote to President Droupadi Murmu. “It’s the destruction of our forests for political gain.”
The NGT has repeatedly demanded answers. An affidavit from the state’s forest department, issued in August 2024, admitted that nearly 300,000 people had encroached on forest land across the region.
Yet neither the Assam government nor the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has offered a clear plan to address the crisis.
In November 2024, the Tribunal slammed the ministry’s vague response and ordered the ministry to submit a detailed affidavit by July 2025, when it will hear the case again.
For locals and conservationists, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The Nameri–Sonai Rupai Conservation Landscape, a critical ecological corridor, is teetering on the edge. “If this continues, we’re not just losing trees, we’re losing the soul of Assam’s wilderness,” Nath said.
He further recalls the sanctuary’s vibrant past, where birdsong filled the air and elephants roamed freely. Now, with deforestation accelerating and wildlife squeezed into shrinking habitats, that vision feels like a distant memory.
As the legal battle unfolds, Nath and others hold onto hope that the NGT’s intervention can halt the government’s plans. “This isn’t just about laws,” he further said. “It’s about saving what’s left of our home, for the animals, for us, for our children.”