Golaghat: The Golaghat district administration on Tuesday demolished a boundary wall of Numaligarh Refinery Ltd (NRL) that has blocked an elephant corridor in the Deopahar reserve forest.

The move came after 566 days of an order passed by the National Green Tribunal on August 24, 2016, whereby it had directed the NRL that the wall should be demolished within a period of one month and the proposed township should not come up at the present location.

The tribunal further ordered the NRL to pay compensation of Rs 25,00,000 to the state forest department which is to be kept in a separate bank account for restoration of the area, improving the environment adjoining the NRL complex and reducing man-animal conflict.

On Tuesday, a joint team of the district administration and the forest department, led by additional deputy commissioner (revenue) Utpal Doley, carried out the drive to demolish the 289-metre boundary wall that took three hours.

Doley was accompanied by circle officer of Bokakhat, Khanindra Das, and officer-in-charge of Golaghat police station Garga Naryan Bora.

"A 67- bigha land was allotted to the NRL for construction of quarters in 2008. It started construction of the boundary wall around this land in 2010 and completed it in 2011. But owing to objections raised by various NGOs, local people and then divisional forest officer, the boundary wall is being constructed on land which is part of the Deopahar proposed reserve forest and falls on the part of elephant corridor, thereby creating obstruction," Doley said.