Erosion threat to Majuli forest :

Jorhat : The first manmade forest in Majuli, which the Jorhat forest department is hoping to develop into a full-fledged forest in order to declare it as the first reserve forest on the Brahmaputra island, is facing severe threat from erosion.

The 200-hectare forest in the Salmora area on the eastern tip of the island has become home to a visiting herd of wild elephants, wild buffaloes, rabbits, snakes, birds and leopards.

A worried Jorhat forest department will move the Brahmaputra Board and send a report to Dispur to take immediate steps to protect the success story of an afforestation drive.

Jorhat forest range officer Pankaj Kalita told The Telegraph here today that largescale erosion in the Salmora area in recent times and most rampant after the floods that hit Majuli about two months back, has threatened the existence of the forest. He said according to latest reports from Majuli beat officer Atul Das, there had been massive erosion at Bonoria Chapori and Kumalia Chapori, which are adjoining to the forest.

Kalita said over half of the land mass of Bonoria Chapori has been lost to the river and if the same continues at the present pace, then within a short period of time, the chapori will cease to exist. The officer said Kumalia Chapori, too, was witnessing erosion. He said if no steps were taken to check erosion by the departments concerned and agencies at the chaporis, then erosion would hit the forest area in the near future leading to the river devouring it.

"If it (losing the forest) happens it, will be not only a case of losing land mass, but a waste of an effort initiated by the department to set up a full-fledged reserve forest on the island," Kalita said.

The range officer said the plantation started about eight years ago after there were signs of some wildlife activity when the area, a grazing ground for cattle then, started to be run over by wild vegetation. He said gradually wild animals were seen coming and staying at the forest and the department was hopeful that the forest would qualify to be declared a reserve forest in the future.

He said his office has decided to approach the Brahmaputra Board to take up anti-erosion projects in the area at the earliest, adding that higher authorities of the department, too, would be informed and urged to take up the matter at the top level of the board and the state water resources department.

Majuli beat officer Atul Das said the riverine herd of elephants that moves along the Brahmaputra and cross over to the island and strays into villages, stays inside the forest most of the time when it visits the area, which he said reduces the depredation in the area.

Sources said the forest was set up under compensatory afforestation scheme from funds received by the department from an oil company, which had installed drilling machinery inside a forest in an Upper Assam district in order to extract oil.

 

-Abakash Majuli