Gaurav Das 
Guwahati: The Indian chapter of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), a UNESCO advisory body, in a letter to the Assam government raised red flags, via queries, over the proposed construction of a high-end hotel and resort at Kaziranga National Park Tiger Reserve (KNPTR) – a World Heritage Site.
Dissenting voices against the proposed construction have hailed the letter as an intervention from UNESCO.
It’s been over a month and the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led state government is yet to reply to the letter dated June 27.
The ICOMOS queries relate to the future of KNPTR’s sustainability, preservation, conservation and the impact of the proposed construction of a five-star hotel and resort.
Jeepal Krishak Shrank Sangha, a grassroots civil organisation at the forefront of active dissent and protests against chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma led-state government’s ambitious project, in a statement issued on Sunday, said ICOMOS’s queries is a sign of intervention by a UNESCO body that brings the spotlight on the uncertainties faced by KNPTR’s immediate future and its lifelong sustainability and preservation.
“ICOMOS is a decision-making body of UNESCO. It has issued an inquiry to the government of Assam about the heritage risk of the proposed hotel development in Kaziranga. Based on the principles of the UNESCO/ICOMOS Charter for Cultural Tourism (1999) serious concerns were expressed. We welcome the UNESCO intervention. Noteworthy is that violation of certain UNESCO rules can lead to losing the status of the ‘world heritage site’ by KNPTR,” said Soneswar Narah, leader and advisor to Jeepal.
The ICOMOS letter addressed to Kumar Padmapani Bora, director of tourism, raised four questions to the state government.
It expressed deep concerns over four major key issues pertaining to KNPTR’s future.
The first query is based on whether the state government has carried out a comprehensive Carrying Capacity assessment to determine the impact of the traffic volume of tourists and subsequent infrastructural development on its wildlife and fragile ecosystem.
ICOMOS further inquired under an Impact Assessment on Wildlife query whether an evaluation has been carried out to measure the impact of development on the park’s natural habitat and movement patterns of wildlife species.
In the same query, it asked whether any planned mitigation measures have been put in place.
There were remaining two queries about Community Involvement, and Alignment Sustainable Practices.
The former asked about the inclusion of Indigenous communities as active participants in discussions for greater transparency pertaining to the pros and cons of the proposed construction project.
The latter sought to find out about the incorporation and inclusion of sustainable construction practices to minimise negative footprint.
A source told The Wire, “There are genuine people at the helm of affairs in the state government who want to address the issue over the construction of a five-star hotel and resort, but they are wary of antagonising Sarma as he is a one-man-one show kind of a person who calls the shots.”
The Ahom royal burial mounds or Charaideo Maidam in Assam’s Charaideo district gained the much-coveted UNESCO World Heritage Site tag last week.
But the unease over KNPTR losing its prestigious World Heritage Site tag looms large as experts fear that such construction will usher irreversible damage to the park’s endangered species and fragile ecosystem.
Manas National Park in Assam’s Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) was conferred with the UNESCO World Heritage Site tag in 1985.
It lost its tag in 1992 due to wanton destruction of wildlife and natural vegetation.
Experts fear that KNPTR could lose its heritage site tag over the proposed construction of a five-star hotel and resort.
However, Manas National Park regained its lost glory in 2011 when it was removed from the UNESCO World Heritage committee’s ‘danger tag’.
The Wire reached out to Dilip Changkakoty who is the northeast zonal representative of ICOMOS India, and an expert member of the International Committee on Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICICH) ICOMOS, and an associate member of the International Cultural Tourism Committee (ICTC) ICOMOS.
He said, “As of now, there has been no reply from the state government to our letter seeking answers to four key issues. We are a neutral body involved in the safeguard, protection, and conservation of heritage sites. We are concerned about the volume of tourists’ traffic and KNPTR’s carrying capacity, behavioural impact of infrastructural development on animals, indigenous people etc. Our duty is to highlight our serious concerns and inquire about them and place questions to state authorities. Our queries are based on our organizational charter and fundamentals.”
Changkakoty hinted that the issue, a matter of deep concern, will be raised in the next meeting of The Heritage Alert Committee of ICOMOS.
Sanjib Kumar Borkakoti another expert member of ICOMOS and commission member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said, “Our responsibility is to highlight whether a UNESCO Heritage Site is effectively maintained or not. Construction at a place like KNPTR poses serious concerns over air, noise and light pollution to endangered animal species. We have addressed our serious concerns to the state government. If proper measures to reduce construction impact, to protect wildlife and vegetation and sustainability for both park and indigenous people are not implemented then KNPTR will be in danger. The state government is yet to reply to our queries.”