Jorhat, Nov. 17: The Kaziranga National Park has appealed to the corporate world to help carry out development work at villages located on the fringe areas of the park.
“We would be grateful if companies like the ONGC and OIL help the communities in the fringe areas of Kaziranga. We have identified more than 200 villages that need uplift, and the corporate world can help by creating livelihoods, eco-tourism or capacity-building. This would benefit the people,” D.D. Gogoi, divisional forest officer of Eastern Wildlife Division, said, speaking at the launch of the ONGC Eastern Swamp Deer Conservation Project at Kaziranga on Tuesday. The ONGC, for the first time, has given Rs 85 lakh for conservation of the last surviving population of eastern swamp deer, found only in Kaziranga.
According to a census conducted a couple of years ago, only 600 eastern swamp deer were found at the park.
Gogoi said the corporate world should help carry out development projects, especially for the villagers’ children, as they would be the future generation and would play a key role in the protection and conservation of Kaziranga. “Education is a must to create awareness among the children and protect wildlife.”
Gogoi said the villagers should be given full credit in the success story of conservation efforts in Kaziranga. “Despite their crops and land being damaged, the villagers hardly kill animals.”
He, however, said a few villagers did play a role in poaching by providing information to poachers and also acted as guides to shooters.
“Several villagers residing on the periphery of the park are underprivileged and indulge in such activities in lure of money. If we carry out development work in these villages and engage the villagers in self-employment schemes, they could be kept away from such activities,” Gogoi said.
B.S. Josyulu, basin manager of ONGC’s Assam and Assam-Arakan Basin, said although Kaziranga did not fall under the company’s area of operation, it would be happy to take up projects for conservation of the park.
“ONGC takes up development work only at places where the company has its operations,” he said.
Josyulu said the company was committed to conservation of natural resources, flora and fauna of northeastern states, especially Assam, as the Indian oil industry began there.
