Jorhat/Guwahati, Sept. 29: The Assam government is yet to take action to demolish a boundary wall of the Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) that has blocked an elephant corridor in Deopahar reserve forest in Golaghat district.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) had asked the NRL to demolish the wall in its August 24 order.

A group, including the Assam Tea Tribes Students Association (ATTSA), has supported the NRL extension and opposed the NGT order.

The NRL has also filed a review petition in the NGT.

The group, which was not present when the case filed by Rohit Chaudhury was being heard at the NGT (from December 2015 to August 24, the day of the ruling), is now distributing leaflets in the area, denying that the wall constructed by NRL in the extended area of 67 bighas is within the elephant corridor and is mobilising people to gather support for the refinery.

A public meet in this regard will be held tomorrow.

ATTSA's Golaghat district president Nurul Ali said he had been acting in individual capacity and the ATTSA was in no way involved. NRL's industrial activities should not be disturbed as it was a property and should be allowed to expand. In response to the query as to why he had not opposed the move during the trial, Ali fell silent. ATTSA assistant general secretary Dhiraj Gowala said the ATTSA would never go against an NGT ruling and had nothing to do with Ali's opinion.

The Deopahar Sanrakhyan Samiti, demanding that both the forest department and the NRL abide by the NGT directive, today said Bikash Brahma, principal chief conservator of forests, had issued a letter on September 6 to principal secretary S. Kumar of the forest department, requesting notices be issued to NRL on the NGT order and the divisional forest officer to open an account where NRL would have to deposit Rs 25 lakh as compensation to the forest department.

Kumar was also asked to declare the proposed Deopahar reserve forest land as a reserve forest area as directed by the NGT.

Neither demolition was carried out nor the area was declared a reserve forest but NRL has deposited the money, the association said.

Samiti president Mubina Akhtar said in Guwahati neither the NRL nor the forest officials had abided by the NGT order. "Forest officials said they were not allowed to do so by local residents but the fact is they have not tried to demolish the wall," she said.

In its review petition, NRL said, "Tribunal erred in not noticing that the entire area acquired for the extension of the township project 22 acres (67 bighas) was a tea garden and the boundary wall was constructed to protect the township and that it had erred in not noticing that of 67 bighas only seven bighas formed the part of the proposed Deopahar reserve forest and therefore the restriction, if any, should be confined to those seven bighas only."