Wildlife under seige: Assam development projects trample habitats, ignore conservation

It is disturbing that insensitive and intrusive developmental activities continue to destroy, degrade and fragment wildlife habitats across the State, with the trend showing no sign of abating. Elephants in particular have been the worst hit by this thoughtless development process, as the pachyderms are increasingly getting robbed of their much-needed space.Both elephant habitats and critical elephant corridors have borne the brunt of infrastructure development projects-and the worse part is that viable alternatives are rarely explored in terms of minimising the damage to elephant habitats and corridors.

A case in point is the Subansiri Lower Hydroelectric Project implemented by NHPC, which is now on the verge of commissioning. As the site falls upstream of the Dulung-Subansiri elephant corridor - a vital link for maintaining the contiguity of inter-State elephant habitats in the Northeast - implementation of some measures aimed at safeguarding the corridor based on recommendations by Wildlife Institute of India (WII) could have gone a long way in ensuring safe passage for the animals. While recommendations made by WII are gathering dust, another hydrological study suggested by WII has been pending for over a year.

WII was categorical in pointing out the grave risk of flash floods washing away and drowning elephants, especially calves and juveniles, during the project's 'peaking' operations. Unfortunately, the WII report on ecological impacts of 'peaking' was completely ignored by NHPC, the Assam government and the National Board for Wildlife, for reasons best known to these authorities. This is certainly not the way you save your heritage animal.

While the Centre and the State government are habituated to mouthing platitudes about their 'concern' for the well-being of wildlife, the disturbing ground reality presents a picture in stark contrast. We are allowing railway tracks to cut through pristine wildlife habitats as in Hollongapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary and Ramsar Site Deepor Beel, despite there being options to relocate these tracks.

We have also allowed highly-polluting oil and coal-producing units very close to critical wildlife habitats across the State, including in the Dehing Patkai range and Gibbon Sanctuary. The list of such damaging activities in the periphery of wildlife habitats is quite long and there is little to suggest that this disquieting phenomenon will subside in the days ahead. Aside from the threat from industrial and infrastructure development activities, the State is losing vast swathes of wildlife habitat in the face of encroachment and growing anthropogenic pressures with the government looking the other way.

That the courts and NGT often have to tell the government to discharge even its basic responsibilities speaks volumes about the government's oft-repeated commitment to protect our priceless natural heritage. Today, Assam has a presence on the global tourism map largely because of its wildlife and it is imperative for all of us to preserve this invaluable bequest for our own sake.