New Delhi: Taking cognisance of a recent news report about the Assam government’s controversial diversion of land from a reserved forest in 2022 to set up a commando battalion camp, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has sought a detailed report from the state’s forest department.
The diversion, of 28 hectares of land from the Gelekey Reserve Forest, located in the state’s Sivasagar district adjoining Nagaland, was done by the former principal chief conservator of forests, M.K. Yadava.
Recently, in an extraordinary move, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, just days after Yadava’s retirement, made him the chief secretary of forests.
Yadava was in the news in the run-up to the second phase of these general elections in Assam after a set of voters in the Karimganj parliamentary constituency filed a case in a local court, accusing him of threatening them to vote for Sarma’s party – the Bharatiya Janata Party – or their houses would be brought down with bulldozers.
As per the Ministry’s letter on April 25, Suneet Bharadwaj, assistant inspector general of forests, has sought “a detailed factual report” on the matter from the state additional chief secretary (forests), stating that it was in cognisance of a report published on the same date in The Hindustan Times.
The Hindustan Times report had mentioned an earlier report by the newspaper pointing out that the Union environment ministry had also taken note took of another “illegal diversion of forests in 2023 at Hailakandi (on the Assam-Mizoram border)” and had directed the state government in March 2024 to “immediately halt construction.” That action on forests was also to set up a police unit on the Assam-Mizoram border.
“Environmentalists are now pointing at the Geleky violation, also approved by Yadava. The documents show that on November 15, 2022, Yadava wrote to the officer in charge, Eastern Assam Circle, stating that the construction of a police battalion can be approved ‘in the interest of conservation and protection of forest land’ at Geleky,” the report had added.
The Ministry’s April 25 letter also categorically directed both the MoEF&CC’s regional office in Shillong and the sub-office in Guwahati to coordinate with the state government and “provide the requisite information with comments at the earliest.”
“According to the official notification vide No FG 46/Border/Nagaland/Pt-11 dated November 15, 2022; the piece of land was diverted for setting up a commando battalion camp along the Assam-Nagaland border of Geleky Reserve Forest for the ‘protection and conservation of reserved forest land and conservation of forest resources’,” said a report in NorthEast Now.
MoEF&CC has recently directed action against M.K. Yadava, for allegedly allowing the construction of a commando battalion unit within theInner Line Reserve Forest on the Assam-Mizoram border through the diversion of around 44 ha of forest land in 2023.,” the news report added.
