From Our Correspondent
GUWAHATI: As Assam joined with the rest of the country in observing the 64th Wildlife Week 2018, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Saturday gave a clarion call to all the stake holders to take a pledge to protect and sustain the awesome wonders of Assam’s wildlife.
Speaking at a programme organised to observe Wildlife Week 2018 at Srimanta Sankardeva International Auditorium here, Sonowal said, “Assam has the proud privilege of sustaining a treasure trove of wild life in its cradle. However, trespassing into the territory of wild life by vested interests including the poachers has put the population of wild life in peril”.
He, therefore, asked the conservationists, people in general, students and government machinery to put up a united effort to create a protective shield for the wild life resources.
He however, hailed the role of forest guards, conservationists and the people living in the fringe districts namely, Biswanath, Sonitpur, Nagaon, Golaghat and Karbi Anglong of Kaziranga National Park for bringing down the incidents of poaching and considerable rise in the population of rhinoceros and other wild life species in the state.
Sonowal also said that Assam has rich reserve of bio-diversity and there should be a well-coordinated and concerted efforts to preserve its rich bio-diversity.
He also asked the Environment and Forest Department to organise awareness rallies in all parts of the state to sensitise the people and motivate them to protect and promote the rich bio-diversity of the state.
Referring to man-animal conflict which is essentially attributed by the shrinkage of habitat and shortage of food of animals, Sonowal said that occasions like Wild Life Week should strive to generate awareness and lend capacity building by taking some pragmatic steps to spearhead the people’s efforts for the protection of animals and their habitats.
Sonowal on the occasion said that government was preparing an all-inclusive roadmap for projecting Assam as one of the most beautiful and exotic tourist destinations and he appealed to all to extend their cooperation to make government’s effort a success.
He also acknowledged the untiring efforts of three brand ambassadors of Assam forests namely Jadav Payeng, Chandra Kanta Basumatary and Ananda Khataniar for their immense contribution towards wildlife preservation.