Assam: After encroachment clearance, Rhino returned to forest

North Lakhimpur: Days after encroachments were cleared from nearly 90 percent of the Pava Reserve Forest in Assam’s Lakhimpur district, a one-horned Rhino was spotted at the eviction site, much to the delight of wildlife conservationists. , officials said Wednesday.

According to Lakhimpur Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Ashok Kumar Dev Choudhary, the adult rhinoceros was spotted on Tuesday roaming in villages that had been cleared of encroachments from the reserve forest.
“Though the villagers claimed to have seen three rhinos, we saw one. The public is disturbing the rhinos, which attacked and injured three people yesterday,” the DFO told PTI.

Choudhury said that there is a high possibility that the rhinoceros has left the Kaziranga National Park of Assam and reached Pava.

“If the public cooperates with us, we will send him back to Kaziranga,” he added.
However, some experts opined that this lone rhino may have lost its way and wandered into village lands within Pava, now free from encroachment.

The administration launched a drive to clear encroachments on January 10, which lasted for several days, evicting around 500 “illegal settler” families.
Expressing happiness over the sighting of rhinoceros inside the Pava Reserve Forest, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that only a few days ago these animals were seen in the land freed from encroachment.

“The return of Niram Dev to Pabho (Pava) RF is a wonderful news for all wildlife enthusiasts,” he tweeted.
The DFO said that in 1941, only 0.32 sq km of the original 46 sq km Pava Reserve Forest was free and the rest was occupied before the evictions began.

He added that a total of 701 families have occupied the land of Pava Reserve Forest during the last three decades.

Choudhary said the Assam government had launched an eviction drive to clear encroachments from 450 hectares of forest land, where people had built residential units.
Apart from these places, a large area of ​​forest was allegedly encroached and converted into agricultural land within Pava, he added.
Wildlife worker Hamidur Rehman, who saw the rhino for the first time in Pava on Tuesday, said the reserve forest was a popular game sanctuary teeming with wild buffaloes, one-horned rhinos, leopards and tigers more than three decades ago.

“Wild animals never forget their tracks and footprints. Seeing their habitat empty, wild animals are coming to Pava. This is a very good sign,” he added.