Jorhat, Dec 20: A Nagaon-based naturalist, who visited Neematighat yesterday, was "aghast" to see the feathers of migratory and local birds strewn all over the embankment, indicating largescale poaching.
Bitupan Kolong, who also works as a wildlife tour guide, said he had never seen so many bird feathers in Neematighat before.
"The place is thickly populated with migratory and other birds. I have not seen so many birds together even at Kaziranga National Park. It was a delight for any bird lover like me. Upon closer scrutiny what I saw was heart-breaking. In a few places on the embankment I found the feathers of birds littered on the ground. Among them were the feathers of local birds like whistling duck and of migratory birds like gadwall, wigeon and bar-headed geese," he said.
"After asking around I found that farmers in the vicinity were killing the birds with nets and spears. I was told that the birds were killed and kept in bags under culverts during the day and taken out at night and sold to the local dhabas," he said. Kolong said when Sanjukta Parashar was the Jorhat superintendent of police three or four years ago, she had conducted several sting operations in the dhabas and seized bird meat being sold as duck meat.
"Arindam Pachoni, a veterinarian and wildlife conservationist who lived at Meleng Balisapori, too, had earlier conducted several awareness programmes at Neematighat, following which the number of poaching incidents had gone down. But after he and Parashar left, the poachers are having a field day," he said.
During Magh Bihu in January, Pachoni photographed birds being loaded in sacks on boats and submitted the pictures to the district administration and forest department here but no action was taken. "With the festive season upon us, the poachers are active once again. The forest camp at Neematighat is locked most of the time. The guards turn a blind eye when birds are poached," Kolong alleged.
Jorhat MP Kamakhya Prasad Tasa and state forest minister Pramila Rani Brahma have been informed of the matter by Kolong over phone. He even wrote on their Facebook pages. "Pramila had said she would look into the matter," he added.
A Neematighat resident confirmed that poaching was on.
Jorhat divisional forest officer Sapan Saikia, however, said forest guards visited the place everyday and rampant poaching was unlikely. "I will not deny that some poaching does take place but I do not think that the people skin the birds at the site itself. Selling of the birds at roadside dhabas , too, is an exaggeration," he said.
