The Government of Assam has added another jewel in the crown of its history of wildlife by notifying Dehing Patkai as a National Park.
The declaration was done on Wednesday and with the up-gradation, Assam now has seven National Parks.
The Dehing Patkai is a contiguous stretch of forests starting from Upper Dehing Reserve Forests in the East upto the Jeypore RF.
It comprises of pristine forests along the Assam-Arunachal interstate boundary.
The 234.26 square kilometer Reserve Forest and popularly known as Dehing Patkai Rain Forest, it has unique floral and faunal diversity.
Assam Government on Wednesday conferred Dehing Patkai the National Park status with the highest level of protection available under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
As per the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, whenever it appears to the state government that an area, whether within a sanctuary or not, is, by reason of its ecological, faunal, floral, geomorphologic, or zoological association of importance, need to be constituted as a National Park for the purpose of protecting, propagating or developing wildlife therein or its environment.
The other National Parks in Assam are –
• Kaziranga,
• Manas,
• Nameri,
• Orang
• Raimona and
• Dibru-Saikhowa.
Earlier, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on World Environment Day declared Raimona Sanctuary as a National Park.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma stated that this was a landmark step in environmental conservation and the newly declared national park will be another endeavor by the state to protect its rich flora and fauna.
A landmark step in environment restoration by Govt of Assam.
On #WorldEnvironmentDay, a reserve forest in BTR has been declared as Raimona National Park. The newly declared National Park will be another addition to the State’s endeavour in preserving its rich flora and fauna. pic.twitter.com/v4gjiGu8fl
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) June 5, 2021
Declaring Raimona as a National Park is a step taken towards fulfillment of the UN vision of ecosystem restoration.
The Raimona National Park covering 422 square kilometer falls under BTR’s Kokrajhar district and is a part of contiguous forest patch covering the northern part of the notified Ripu Reserve Forest.
The new National Parks will open up huge opportunities of ecotourism for the villagers, who currently are partially or totally dependent on forest resources for their livelihood.
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