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VOL. XXV NO. 199 ! RNI NO. 34014/90
GUWAHATI ! FRIDAY! APRIL 24, 2015
NGT slams Dispur over CAG
report on Kaziranga park
NEW DELHI, APR 23: The National
Green Tribunal has slammed the Assam
government over a CAG report which
has detected a number of lapses and
anomalies by the state in maintenance
of the Kaziranga National Park.
"Our attention is drawn to the report of
CAG published by the government of
Assam... according to the report the area
along and around NH–37 is illegally exploited for commercial purposes and
there is inaction on the part of Assam.
"Certainly, whatsoever is revealed is not
conducive to the environment of the area
in question, with particular reference to
the normal movement of wildlife across
the Kaziranga National Park," a bench
headed by Justice U D Salvi said.
The tribunal was hearing a plea opposing expansion of NH-37 which passes
through Jakhalabandha to Bokakhat
through the Kaziranga Park. The observations came after petitioner Rohit
Choudhary placed before the bench the
CAG report titled "Performance Audit of
Kaziranga National Park - Issues and
Challenges". The green panel after going through the report directed the Assam
government to take "positive action" in
respect of the recommendations made
in the report and asked it to place before
us the action taken report within three
weeks. The matter is fixed for next hearing on May 26. According to the CAG
report, against the financial outlay of Rs
93.76 crore proposed in the original Annual Plan of Operations for 2010-11 to
2012-13, the Kaziranga authorities got
only Rs 17.37 crore, which was about 19
per cent of the funds demanded.
"From the results of physical verification, interactions with wildlife authorities/
villagers and scrutiny of various correspondences, it would appear that uncontrolled and ever increasing construction/
human settlements with urbanization at
places, commercial activities/mining had
contributed to blocking majority of stretch
of NH 37 including designated animal
corridors (except some patches of
Haldhibari and Burapahar)," the report
said.
"Non declaration of the ESZ for such a
long period of time had a direct bearing
on such activities detrimental to the well
being of animals. The dangerous trend,
if not checked immediately and permanently could lead to an irreversible impact on conservation and protection of
wildlife with the potential threat that in
case of a major flood, majority of the
internationally acclaimed species - one
horned rhinos would be wiped out forever," the report added.
CAG, in its recommendations, said that
"in view of the GoI directive of July 2013,
a default area of 10 km from the park
boundary may be declared as the ecosensitive zone and action as per the
points prescribed in the guidelines of GoI
taken immediately." It also recommended
investigation into construction of resorts
and hotels without permission of the national park authorities, change in the land
use pattern of two resorts by the Circle
Office, Bokakhat and encroachment of
government land.
"The entire stretch of NH-37 from
Burapahar to Bokakhat needs to be freed
from illegal encroachments and the
dhabas, parking of trucks need to be
cleared immediately.
"All constructions made on either sides
of the NH along with validity of the people
residing in these areas need to be examined in co-ordination with the Circle
Offices Bokakhat and Kaliabor with reference to the land holdings, permissions,
etc and all illegal constructions/persons
removed from the area within a fixed
timeframe," the CAG report said.
"There is a complete inaction by the
state of Assam, so far as protection of
rhinos are concerned. The CAG report
should have been a wake-up call for the
government to take urgent action, however, the same apathy continues and government seems to be happy with increase
in rhino population without considering
the warning signs of the impending
doom," said advocate Ritwick Dutta, appearing for the petitioner.
Choudhury said, "At present, on an average one rhino per 10 days is being
killed in Kaziranga and then the state
tries to shift the blame. The matter should
be investigated and action taken." Agencies
31 cases filed against tea
garden owners for irregularities
GUWAHATI, APR 23: Assam government
today said it has registered 31 different
cases under the Plantation Labour Act
against a number of tea garden owners for
not implementing various schemes and
welfare measures for workers.
"Tea garden owners are not doing
enough for the workers and we are taking
note of this. We have registered 31 cases
so far for not implementing the schemes
for workers," Assam Chief Minister Tarun
Gogoi said at a press conference here.
However, he declined to elaborate on the
nature of the cases and at what stages of
investigation they were in. "Despite telling
the owners to give minimum wages for unskilled workers, they are not doing so. "The
current notified minimum wage is Rs 169
per day and they (owners) have to give it,"
Gogoi said. He mentioned there were
shortages of doctors, houses and other
necessary amenities in the tea gardens.
The Chief Minister expressed dissatisfaction over the fact that the tea garden owners frequently go to the Court and obtain
stay over any unfavourable government
notifications. "Now we are determined that
the Plantation Labour Act has to be implemented. We cannot allow labourers to be
exploited," he said. Gogoi said updating
the National Register of Citizens (NRC)
Lightning
claims 3
JORHAT (Assam), APR
23: Three women working
in a tea garden died when
a severe lightning struck
this afternoon in Assam's
Jorhat district, a senior
police official said. The
women, all regular
labourers, were working at
Lopohia tea estate under
Pulibor police station when
they were struck by lightning and died on the spot.
The trio have been identified. Agencies
was the top priority of the government and
it was determined to include the names of
all Indian citizens in Assam. Talking about
the farmer's suicide yesterday at a rally of
Aam Aadmi Party in New Delhi, he said it
was very unfortunate that such an incident
took place it the national capital. "There is
no 'Achche Din' (good days) for farmers.
Even in Gujarat farmers have committed
suicide. "In Assam, no farmer has committed suicide," Gogoi said adding, there
might be a few cases of starvation deaths
in the state. On the two-day conference of
Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police, which concluded here yesterday, the chief minister said he has asked
for bringing government schemes to fasttrack delivery system for the people to reap
the benefits in a time bound manner. He
said the district administration has been
asked to take steps for the disposal of
mutation, partition and conversion cases
on a mission mode from May 1 to 15 this
year. To ensure welfare of the tea garden
workers, the DCs were told to enforce the
Plantation Labour Act in letter and spirit, the
Gogoi said adding, he had asked the
Deputy Commissioners to cover all tea garden workers under the National Food Security Act and issue cards to all of them.
Agencies
Snap in BSNL optical
lines restored
SHILLONG, APR 23: BSNL Optical lines suffered major
snaps at two locations in Assam yesterday affecting telephone and internet services in Meghalaya, Mizoram,
Tripura but the lines have been restored, officials said
today. The Guwahati-Kolkata line got snapped near
Siliguri while the Shillong-Guwahati 10 GB line got
snapped at a location ahead of Khanapara in Assam
yesterday afternoon, BSNL transmission (NE 1) division
engineer Santanu Ghosh said.
He said the Power Grid-owned Guwahati Kolkata line
got snapped due to bad weather conditions while the
BSNL line connecting Shillong and Guwahati got
snapped due to an accident.
HYDERABAD, APR 23: In
a tough stance on the firing incident in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh in
6
Centre, Raj govt
insensitive towards
farmers: Gehlot
Russia still expects
N. Korea's Kim in
May: Diplomat
Postal Regn NO. TECH/RNP/GH-6/2003
NHRC for judicial probe into Chittoor firing
which 20 people were
killed earlier this month,
the National Human
Rights Commission today
strongly favoured conducting a judicial inquiry even
RS. 2.00
as an NGO alleged that
the killing was carried out
with "approval" of the state
leadership.