Displaced by river, village enters Dibru-Saikhowa National Park; calls grow for eviction

Doomdooma, July 26: The State government has now adopted a firm stance against encroachers and it is pertinent to mention in this context that the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park in Tinsukia district is also facing widespread encroachment.

The destruction and encroachment of forested areas across Assam are severely disrupting the ecological balance, prompting environmentalists to welcome the government’s recent actions against forest encroachers.

Environmental activists from Tinsukia have urged upon the State government to evict the village of Erasuti, located at the entrance of the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park. It is noteworthy that this village was once a revenue village located near Guijan. Adjacent to it was another village named Garamjan, which was completely submerged by the overflowing waters of the river Dibru in 1990, causing severe damage to Erasuti as well. While the residents of Garamjan relocated elsewhere, most of the families in Erasuti, except for a few, continued to live there.

Due to the constant erosion caused by the river Dibru every year, the village gradually began to shift into the boundaries of the national park. By 2021, after the complete erosion of Erasuti village, its residents penetrated deep into the interior of Dibru-Saikhowa National Park. Currently, more than 50 families have built homes and are residing there. They have also cleared forest areas to create farmland. In short, encroachment has begun right at the doorstep of the national park. Despite this, the forest department remains inactive.

What is particularly striking is that the office of the Guijan forest range officer is located not far from the encroached area. Environmentalists argue that if immediate steps are not taken to evict these families and rehabilitate them elsewhere, the situation could become more serious in the future.

Environmental activists have alleged that the incumbent MLA from Chabua LAC and a former Guijan Zila Parishad member from the ruling party are protecting the encroachers from eviction.

Although Erasuti was once a revenue village the river has now completely washed away the original land. Therefore, the government must arrange to rehabilitate these landless people in another location. There is no justification for occupying land within a national park due to landlessness.

Additionally, it is worth mentioning that to the north of the national park, residents from two villages of the now-vanished Laika (which has been submerged by the Brahmaputra) are living inside the park. Although the district administration has promised their rehabilitation, it has yet to happen. Currently, these people reside in flood-prone areas of the national park, which are also subject to ongoing erosion.

Recently, as the water levels rose, over a hundred families from Laika were forced to move to a small elevated area near Baghjan. However, forest officials allegedly threatened them and took them back by boat, leaving them once again in the floodwaters. Local environmentalists suspect there may be some mystery behind the administration’s failure to rehabilitate these flood-affected people, along with its inaction despite the clear encroachment of national park land.

Satellite imagery has also confirmed that the village suddenly advanced deep into the national park by 2021. An estimated 40 hectares of land within the national park have been encroached upon, as revealed by satellite imagery.

Environmentalists fear that if such encroachment continues then the park’s renowned flora and fauna may eventually become extinct.