Times
of India: Guwahati: Thursday, 09 October 2014.
At a time the
government's priority is conservation of wetlands across the state, a reply to
an RTI application filed by environment activist Rohit Choudhury has revealed a
startling fact.
The
state-level steering committee on wetlands has not met even once, said the
state public information officer (SPIO) and planning officer (II) of the office
of the principal chief conservator of forests and head of the forest force in
reply to Choudhury's RTI application.
The SPIO and
planning officer (II) said the chief secretary or additional chief secretary is
the chairman of the committee and since certain nominations are still to be
made, the committee has not met so far.
In his
application, the activist had sought information on the total number of
meetings of the committee, along with the dates, held in the last 10 years. He
had sought minutes of the meetings held in the last five years.
On different
occasions, the government has reiterated its stand on the protection and
conservation of the state's wetlands. A few months ago, when the city was hit
by an artificial flood, the Kamrup (Metro) district administration had worked
hard to clear encroachments off the wetlands.
Assam has an
estimated 7,64,372 hectare area of wetlands. However, many important wetlands,
including the state's only Ramsar site, Deepor Beel, are bearing the brunt of
rising pollution and increasing encroachments.
The Deepor
Beel, which is also a wildlife sanctuary, is home to over 200 species of birds,
including migratory birds.
Environment
activists have protested against a municipal garbage dumping site close to the
Beel. Besides, the banks of the wetland are extensively used for construction
activities.
Elephants
from the adjoining Rani-Garbhanga reserved forest, which often use Deepor Beel
to bathe, are also bearing the brunt of development activities.
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