JONAI, June 29 – At a time when environmental degradation due to rapid deforestation is on in the region, unabated cutting of trees and poaching of wild species is posing a serious threat to conservation of ecosystem of entire Jonai area. Indiscriminate collection of forest wealth from the Reserve Forest areas is destroying the forest cover.
Mention may be made here that, out of the four reserve forests, three namely Gali, Jamjing and Sengajan have already been encroached completely while a large part of Kobu Chapori Proposed RF has been transformed into a human habitat. The remaining forest cover in POBA R F is also threatened.
It is alleged that, the traders regularly enter the Poba R F and smuggle out under the very nose of the forest officers. Further, an unholy nexus between the beat officers concerned and the traders can not be ruled out by the people here.
Expressing serious concern over the unabated deforestation in the RFs the nature lovers including the local NGO activists said that, the forest authority has utterly failed to check the illegal activities in this regard. They also alleged that the higher ups of the Forest department have been neglecting the issue despite repeated appeals.
On the other hand, sources from Forest Department have pointed towards the lack of proper infrastructure and shortage of staff as the prime cause for failure of the Forest Department here to check the forest destructive activities in the RF. Sources further informed that, only 23 forest personnel including the range officer of Jonai territorial range (under Dhemaji Forest Division) are serving while a total of 41 forest staff is needed to protect the Jonai RFs assess.
Sources from Forest Department further said that, organised encroachment under political intervention is another reason of large scale deforestation in the Jonai RFs. As many as 86 villages have been settled in the reserve forests by encroachment within the last decade. Moreover, two tea gardens and land allotted to Bengal Tea Corporation is in the Poba RF. The forest officials alleged that a number of rural development schemes has been implemented in the reserve forest areas in active connivance of some unscrupulous panchayat officials as well as the civil officers here ignoring the importance of regeneration of forest cover. It is worth mentioning that the eviction drive against the new encroachers in the Jonai Reserve forests in May 2002 went in vain due to active political intervention.
