From Our Correspondent
RONGJENG (EGH), Sep 25: History has witnessed that development always comes at the expense of the environment – whether it be the first industrial revolution or the continuing development of towns and cities. Closer to home, two upcoming National Highways are coming up in the districts of North and East Garo Hills, but the development will come at a cost of over 12,000 trees and that too, only from the various reserve forests in the two districts.
The two roads in question are the upcoming expansion of the NH-62 between Dudhnoi in Assam to Darugre, near Rongjeng in East Garo Hills and another expansion on the NH 44E between Darugre to the Chisobibra tri-junction, about 7 km from Williamnagar, the district capital. These two roads will together join with the NH 217B that is expected to run through most of Garo Hills.
Presently, the distance between the Dudhnoi to Darugre is about 45 km while the Darugre-Chisobibra section could come down drastically to about 35 km from the present 45 km.
The most worrying part for those concerned about the environment is the fact that fiveseparate forest reserves will be impacted in a huge manner. The route between Dudhnoi to Darugre has 3 different state reserves – Chimabangshi near Dainadubi in NGH, Dambo – Rongjeng Reserve in EGH as well as the Darugre Reserve while the Darugre – Chisobibra route has the Songsak Reserve as well as the Rongrengre Reserve.
Besides these reserves lie stretches of non forest land, all of which will see road expansion on both sides which comes along with destruction of village level forests, plantations as well as grasslands. With the idea being to cut down distance within the routes, the NHIDCL has moved to razing small hills to straighten the route. Hillocks are currently being razed to make way for the 2 lane highway. The Darugre – Chisobibra route, which is yet to take off, has already seen state forest officials razing down trees to make way for the expansion.
Coming to numbers, according to state forest sources from the district, Chimabangshi Reserve Forest is already looking at over 2,000 trees being cut while more than 7,000 trees are being leveled in the Dambo – Rongjeng and Darugre Reserves. Besides these, the Songsak Reserve will see another 2,000 trees being razed while Rongrengre Reserve has already marked 1,000 more trees to be cut down.
If we added the upcoming new road between Darugre to Baghmara-Karongre (West Garo Hills), the number will be tripled as the SGH district is the most densely forested area in the entire region.
Currently road work and its apparent deforestation is taking place along the entire alignment between Dainadubi through Dambo–Rongjeng and everywhere one looks, only tree stumps can be seen. What is even more exasperating is that most of the trees set for cutting are mature trees (50-120 years old).
Speaking on the situation, a ranger from the district informed that they had no choice but to follow orders from the government as well as the opinion of the people of the region.
“We went to them and held several talks to find their opinion on the matter as the matter is of extreme importance to the local environment. They told us that they wanted development and to proceed with what was necessary for it. This is what comes with development,” said the ranger.
While the upgrade of the Dainadubi – Darugre road is an essential thing for most residents mainly due to the alignment, volume of traffic as well as overall wear and tear the road has suffered, what has baffled most is the need for the upgrade of the Darugre to Chisobibra road.
“The road is in extremely good condition despite being completed in 2017 and is possibly one of the best roads in the entire North East, even after 8 years. The only reason that one can think of is to possibly straighten the current alignment, but for that, is so much destruction of forest resources really a necessity,” asked a resident of Rongjeng.
