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Assam CM urged Union minister to allow commando camp in protected forest
An Assam forest official allowed construction of a commando battalion unit in a protected forest to purportedly stop encroachments by the Mizo people.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma wrote to Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav on April 13, requesting that the ministry accord post facto forest clearance to the construction of a commando battalion unit in a protected forest, documents accessed by HT showed.
HT reported on April 10 that a forest official in Assam allowed construction of a commando battalion unit in a protected forest to purportedly stop encroachments by Mizo people from the neighbouring state of Mizoram. The move created a furore among local conservationists, compelling the Union ministry to take note and direct the state government, in March, to halt construction immediately.
In 2023, MK Yadava, the then principal chief conservator of forests and head of the forest force in Assam, approved the construction of a commando battalion unit in the Assam-Mizoram interstate border area of Inner Line Reserve Forest involving diversion of forest area of around 44 acres. Construction started shortly after that but without a prior forest clearance under the Forest Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2023. The ministry took note of the offence and held that the construction was in contravention of statutory provisions and rules under law. It also directed that the state stop construction activities at the site.
Documents received under RTI, seen by HT, show that Sarma has now requested the Centre to revisit the matter holistically since stopping construction work “purportedly to protect a tiny area, when compared to the large-scale areas of forests experiencing unabated destruction, may not be a pragmatic approach and would defeat the forest conservation efforts of the state government as well as the ministry”.
He further said “drone photographic images have established that rampant construction of pitch roads, bridges, police battalion camps, offices, and settlement of encroacher villages from the Mizoram side is going on unabated in more than 3,000ha of reserve forests (RF). Taking advantage of the disputed interstate boundary, new encroachments have penetrated between 6km to 10km inside the ILRF (Inner Line RF). According to the Global Forest Watch Network, more than 2,000ha of forest has been cleared in the ILRF from 2018 to 2022. Further, more than 600 cubic metres of felled trees have been seized in the ILRF, which is a clear indication of large-scale felling. There are also reports that Rohingya are being settled by some inimical forces in the ILRF.”
Sarma went on to explain the fallout of this in his letter: “In fact on July 26, 2021, when the government of Assam attempted to remove encroachments, there was unprovoked firing by miscreants from the Mizoram side using automatic weapons, which led to the death of six Assam police personnel along with serious injuries to the superintendent of police while the district magistrate and the divisional forest officer narrowly escaped with their lives... the issue has thus escalated from being that of forest conservation only to one involving national security concerns too...”
“In this backdrop, I request your kind intervention for according post facto approval of the ministry to the construction activities, and allow resumption of the construction of the commando camp in the RF, since the protection of that very forest does not otherwise seem possible,” he urged.
Yadava was appointed special chief secretary (forests) by the Assam government following his retirement in February.
The Assam government also sought forest clearance for the project through the Union environment ministry’s Parivesh website on April 19. The documents that have been uploaded on the website show that clearance has been sought for 11.5ha of built-up area of the project, which covers an area of 44ha. The project justification document sums up arguments made by Sarma in his letter to the ministry.
HT sought a response from the ministry on May 16 on Sarma’s request, and asked what action had been taken about the construction that had already taken place on the site without prior forest clearance. Though ministry officials acknowledged receiving the queries, they did not respond to them.
“It is sad to see that Mr MK Yadava, who has brazenly violated the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act on multiple counts, and in whose case the central government has written for penal action to be taken under Section 3A of the Act, is being sought to be protected through D.O. letters. It brings down the stature of the government in the public eye,” said Rohit Choudhury, wildlife and RTI activist, who had sought correspondence related to the construction of the commando battalion at Hailakandi.
Both the chief minister’s office and the Union ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
HT reported on April 25 that Yadava approved the diversion of another 28ha at the Assam-Nagaland border in the Geleky reserve forest in 2022 for a police battalion camp, according to official documents.
