Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on
Saturday announced that the Raimona reserve forest in Kokrajhar under the
Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), bordering Bhutan, has been upgraded as the
sixth national park of the state. Announcing this on the occasion of World
Environment Day, the chief minister said that with the new addition, the state
now has six national parks. The process to convert Dehing Patkai wildlife
sanctuary into a national park is also under progress, he said. The chief
minister said that this was a landmark step in environment conservation and the
newly declared national park will be another endeavour by the state to protect
its rich flora and fauna. The notification declaring Raimona as a national park
has been issued by the environment and forest department on Saturday. The Wild
Life (Protection) Act, 1972 says whenever it appears to the state government
that an area,whether within a sanctuary or not, is, by reason of its
ecological, faunal, floral, geomorphological or zoological association or
importance,needed to be constituted as a national park for the purpose of
protecting, propagating or developing wild life therein or its environment. The
other five national parks in Assam are – Kaziranga, Manas, Nameri, Orang and
Dibru-Saikhowa. Sarma said its a step taken towards fulfilment of the UN vision
of ecosystem restoration. Minister for Environment and Forest Parimal
Suklabaidya said the announcement made by the chief minister has turned out to
be a red letter day for the state and welcome news for wildlife lovers, nature lovers
and conservationists. The Raimona national park falls under BTR’s Kokrajhar
district and is a part of contiguous forest patch with an area of 422 square km
covering the northern part of the notified Ripu Reserve Forest which forms the
westernmost buffer to Manas Tiger Reserve in the foothills of Eastern Himalaya
Biodiversity Hotspot. The boundary of Raimona national park stretches from the
Sonkosh river on the west along the inter-state boundary of West Bengal and
Assam from Indo-Bhutan border and Saralbhanga River on the east, runs
northwards till it touches the Indo-Bhutan international boundary on the north
and remaining part of Ripu RF on the south. The new national park shares
contiguous forest patches of Phipsoo Wildlife Sanctuary and Jigme Singye
Wangchuk National Park in Bhutan (total area of 1,9 creating a transboundary
conservation landscape of more than 2,400 square km. A senior forest official
pointed out that such secured transboundary ecological landscape will ensure
long term conservation of endemic species like Golden Langur – the mascot of
BTR – and endangered species like Asian Elephant Elephas maximus, Royal Bengal
Tiger Panthera tigris and varied other flora and faunal species it supports. Historically,
the area was a part of the migratory route of the faunal species from Himalayan
Mountain, Indo-Malayan and Indo-Chinese areas towards west and Peninsular
Indian realm species to the east, the official said. The new national park
forms the western most buffer to the Manas Tiger Reserve (TR) which is one of
the nine such reserves in India first declared by Project Tiger in 1973. The
area is also the integral part of Manas Biosphere Reserve (BR) and Chirang-Ripu
Elephant Reserve (ER). The new national park will open up huge opportunities of
ecotourism for the fringe villagers, who currently are partially or totally
dependent on forest resources for their livelihood. A highly viable tourism
circuit through the Raimona national park and the contiguous protected areas of
Bhutan will attract national and international tourists, who will not only
enjoy the wildlife and outstanding scenic beauty but also the diverse and
colourful social landscapes and their rich culture and tradition, the official
added. PTI
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