Jorhat, July 31: The forest department has come up with a plan to carry out bamboo plantation in two reserve forests along the Assam-Nagaland border under Jorhat forest division’s Mariani range.

Altogether 40 hectares of land in Dissoi Valley reserve forest and Dissoi reserve forest have been identified for bamboo plantation under National Bamboo Mission by involving join forest management committees of the areas.

The move also aims at preventing the long-standing problem of encroachment from across the border, with the decades-old border dispute between the two states yet to be resolved.

Data available with the Assam forest department reveals that the three reserve forests — Dissoi Valley, Dissoi and Tiru Hills — in Jorhat district have allegedly witnessed heavy encroachment in the last three decades and have been left with half or less than half of the area once covered.

The original area of Dissoi reserve forest was 2,797.148 hectares of which 1,532.34 hectares have been encroached upon and this includes a village. The original area of Dissoi Valley reserve forest was 16,381.446 hectares of which 13,322.14 hectares have been encroached upon. Fourteen villages have been set up in the encroached area. The original area of Tiru Hills was 5,858.552 hectares, of which 4,829.15 hectares have been encroached upon.

Forest sources said the department had carried out eviction of illegal settlements from time to time with the support of Jorhat district administration but had avoided a largescale drive as the issue was a sensitive one, involving two state governments and could blow up and trigger violence. The matter is now sub judice with the Supreme Court hearing the case.

In May this year, the forest department detected that people from across the border had adopted a unique method to stake claim on Assam forests. They inscribed the name of the neighbouring state on trees inside Dissoi Valley reserve forest. The matter came to light when a group of forest officials from Assam went deep inside the reserve forest. They found trees inscribed with NLM (for Nagalim) and AKM (for Aokum basti).

Divisional forest officer (Jorhat) N.K. Malakar told The Telegraph that a 15-hectare plot of land had been selected in Dissoi Valley reserve forest and 25 hectares had been selected in Dissoi reserve forest for bamboo plantation under the National Bamboo Mission.

He said the department would carry out the plantation very soon by involving three joint forest management committees of the area, which will cover about 10 villages.

The Mariani range officer will be the nodal officer for the project, which will be implemented in phases.

He said the plan was not only to expand green cover, but also to help prevent encroachment. With the local people as stakeholders in the project, a close watch on the forest areas is expected.

Malakar said MoUs would be signed with the joint forest management committees to hand them the responsibility of looking after the plantations and added that the plantations would need around five to six years to reach full growth.

He said members of the three committees would later get a share of the earnings from the sale of the produce.