MUSHALPUR, Dec 6 – Pratiddhani, an NGO with its head office at Barama, has come forward with a step to protect the forest and wildlife in and around Uttarkuchi area in Baksa district. Established in 2003, the NGO has six executive members and over hundred general members.

Talking to this correspondent Bijoy Choudhury, the managing director of the NGO said that in the initial stage the activities of the NGO were confined to construction of bund in the flood affected areas of Barama, training on cultivation to 51 unemployeed youths of Barama area, training on sericulture to the women living below property line and training on weaving and marketing of garments.

Pratiddhani took up forest and wildlife conservation in the area since July 15, 2006. Accordingly, a forest check-gate was set up at Uttarkuchi on August 15 under the banner of Manas Sousi Khongkhor Eco-Tourism Society under the NGO. Since then fishing in the rivers and streams, hunting of birds and animals and felling of trees have been strictly prohibited in the forest reserves. In the initial stage the NGO workers had to face a tough defiance from the wood cutters and fishermen but the constant support from Baksa Deputy Commissioner Dr Anowarudding Choudhury in organising awareness meetings and motivation classes among the rural masses helped the volunteers to carry on with their tasks.

A group of volunteers comprising 35 members have been working day in and day out to protect the forest and wildlife in this region. Recently the group detected a bullet injury wild male tusker near Mainapukhuri under Dihira Reserve Forest and communicated the matter to the Forest department and Baksa DC. The elephant, however, succumbed to its injury before receiving proper treatment. The NGO workers guarded the tusker until the pair of 2 feet long tusks were handed over to the concerned authoritiy and the carcass was buried.

The volunteers also helped the cultivators in Kaurbaha village near Rangiya in driving away a herd of wild elephants from the residential area to the interior jungles without causing them injuries.

Earlier, the NGO found a 28 kg pythan in Jopa Kalligaon village and rescured another from a poacher, which were laterhanded over to the Forest department, Nalbari. A three month-old leopard cub found in Dihira Reserve Forest was sent by the NGO to the State Zoo through the Baksa DC. Other animals rescued by the NGO workers include a large Indian civet and a tortoise.