Photo Courtesy: nenow
Guwahati: The Assam government deleted a key 2022 Gazette notification from its forest department website. The document previously detailed nine wildlife corridors linking Kaziranga National Park to the Karbi Anglong hills. The page now shows a 404 error. Officials offered no explanation for the disappearance.
The move follows reports that the Panbari corridor was missing from maps in the public version of the document. The notification, numbered FRW.7/2022/Pt.V/01, was issued on April 1, 2022. It followed a 2019 committee report naming nine specific routes: Panbari, Haldhibari, Bagori, Harmati, Kanchanjuri, Hatidandi, Deosur, Chirang, and Amguri.
Concerns involve the Methoni Tea Estate. The property shifted to RCP Solutions and Services Private Limited, a Reliance Industries Limited subsidiary, in 2022. Questions surfaced after an Eastern Assam Wildlife Division document mentioned a notified Panbari corridor regarding a proposed APDCL substation at the estate. The official claimed the site sat outside the corridor. This implies authorities recognize the passage even if the public record remains incomplete.
The Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve office insists the notification is valid. It stated, "The notification was published in the Gazette and is available for public access on the official Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve website." Despite this, the state forest department website no longer hosts the file. M K Yadava, Special Chief Secretary of the Environment, Forest and Climate Change Department, did not reply to requests for comment.
No proof links the estate sale to the notification removal. The timing draws heat. These corridors allow animals to escape monsoon floods. The public still lacks a complete, accessible record of these protected zones.
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