LIST OF CONTENTS
The Big Cat crisis
NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES
Assam 3
Elephants translocated to Manas suffer from bug bites
CAG report reveals bungling of Project Tiger Funds in Nameri and Manas
Gujarat 4
Eight lions poached in and around Gir; another 11 die in open wells
Salt makers to resist relocation from the Dhrangadhra Wild Ass Sanctuary
GEER to take up project on Great Indian Bustard
Survey for rationalization of PAs
Jammu & Kashmir 6
Jharkhand 7
Conflict in Dalma over ritual
hunting
Karnataka 7
Proposal for Conservation Reserve
status to Puttenhalli Lake in Bangalore
Kerala 7
State approves hydroelectric project near Silent Valley NP
New tiger monitoring protocol in Periyar
Illegal trekking in Periyar TR
Fires reported in April in Parambikulam WLS, Nelliampathy forests
Crocodile research centre at Neyyar WLS
Madhya Pradesh
9
WII study indicates fall in tiger population in MP
Lesser florican spotted in Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary after 1879
Fires in Melghat and Tadoba Andhari TRs
Manipur 10
KYKL
camp busted in Keibul Lamjao NP
Nagaland 10
Protests against encroachment in Intanki NP
Orissa 10
Management school in way of Chandaka WLS elephants
Forests around two villages in core of Simlipal BR undisturbed: AnSI
Tourism facilities to be developed in Bhitarkanika, Satkosia; tourist influx promotes poaching in Bhitarkanika
Coastal
Community Resource Centre near Bhitarkanika
Turtles fitted
with satellite transmitters
Punjab 13
Proposal for
community reserve for sarus cranes in Gurdaspur district
Rajasthan 13
Watchtowers, close circuit TV for Keoladeo NP to fight fires
Leopard radio telemetry project in Sariska
Tigers to be
reintroduced into Sariska TR
Tamil Nadu 14
Tamil Nadu, Kerala to jointly protect Anaimalais
Uttarakhand 14
Road under-passes for Rajaji elephants
West Bengal 15
Train kills another elephant in Buxa TR
Five elephants found dead in Buxa TR
Rs 10.28 crores
for relocation of villages in Buxa TR unused: CAG report
Serious staff shortage in West Bengal FD
New newsletter on Community Based biodiversity conservation
Planning Commission stops funding for Project Snow
Leopard
Details of
funds released for relocation of villages from Protected Areas
Inter-State Coordination Committees to check poaching
Forestry fund of Rs 3,500 crore unused
TRAFFIC reopens
TigerLink restarted
SOUTH ASIA 19
Nepal
Sonaha community demands rights in RBNP
Increase in Black Necked
Crane, Bar Headed Geese populations in
Working Group on High Elevation
Grasslands
Workshop on Governance and Categories Assessment for
PAs in ASEAN region
UPCOMING 20
Fourth International Conference on Environmental
Education
OPPURTUNITIES 21
Deputy Director for the Corbett Foundation
Oppurtunities with ATREE
Volunteers for Leopard awareness program around SGNP in Mumbai
Director –
Madras Crocodile Bank / Centre for Herpetology
In
the Supreme Court 24
Protected Area Update
Vol. XIII, No. 3, June 2007 (No. 67)
Editor: Pankaj Sekhsaria
Illustrations: Madhuvanti Anantharajan
Produced by: Kalpavriksh
Ideas, comments, news and information may please be sent to the
editorial address:
KALPAVRIKSH,
Email:
psekhsaria@gmail.com
Website: www.kalpavriksh.org
Production of PA Update 67 has been supported by Foundation for Ecological Security (FES), Anand.
The Big Cat Crisis
The Big Cat Crisis comes to us from two directions.
Lions in
There are confirmed reports
of the poaching of eight lions from in and around Gir in the last few months.
The claws and bones of the animals were found missing indicating that the
Asiatic lion too has started to figure in wildlife trade. It is also important
to note that in the last four years another 20 odd of these extremely
endangered cats have fallen to their death into open wells that dot the Gir
landscape in their hundreds. The combined implications can only be considered
ominous. If that was not enough the controversy over moving some lions from
In
the case of the tiger it continues to be an issue of their numbers. As we go to
press there is much anguish being expressed over the fall in numbers of tigers
as reported by the Wildlife Institute of India. Estimates based on a new
counting protocol indicate that tiger numbers could be about half (or even
less) of what were reported in the last census five years ago. Those figures
from some of the main tiger states is rather alarming: In Madhya Pradesh from
over 700 in 2001-02 in to less than 300 now; Maharashtra – from 238 to about
100 now and in Chattisgarh from 227 to only about 30 (the Indravati Tiger
Reserve was not included in the count).
What this can only mean is
that a large number of them have died (many poached) in the intervening period
– if this is not a big crisis, what can it be. It also points out to the huge
inadequacy in the process and attitudes in the earlier methods of counting.
Initial
government responses have been rather characteristic – a combination of denial
and skepticism – a refusal, it seems, to accept the figures that are coming
out. MoEF secretary Dr. Pradipto Ghosh (he has since retired) was reported as
having said that these numbers could not be compared to those from the last
census and that, in fact, there was nothing wrong with the pugmark method.
The
numbers from the counts still perhaps need a final confirmation and validation.
Some correction could still perhaps happen. Yet, it would be difficult to deny
that we have a problem on hand; and that denial would be the most inappropriate
way of dealing with the issue.
A combination of responses
needed is also well known to us…more numbers and better trained/equipped ground
staff, rapid response teams, joint operations with local communities, winning
communities over to conservation rather than making them enemies prone to being
exploited by poachers and hands-off tiger habitats to 'development' projects.
The direction, however, to finding a solution would be to acknowledge and accept that we have a problem in the first place. The rest can be then made to happen.
NEWS FROM INDIAN STATES
Elephants translocated to Manas suffer from bug
bites
Six elephant calves
translocated to the
The flies are found in Manas in abundance in the dry
season and there is also a shortage of wallows in Manas that could have helped
the elephants from escaping the bites. The elephants had to be drugged by the
authorities to provide them temporary relief.
Insect samples have also
been sent to the
Source:
‘Shifted elephant calves in
Contact: Director,
Manas NP, PO Barpeta Rd. Dist. Barpeta – 781315,
CAG report reveals bungling of Project Tiger Funds
in Nameri and Manas
The latest report of the
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of
The report says that the authorities started by
allocating a very small part of the originally proposed sum. The fund allocated
was used in an ad-hoc manner, the tiger census were not carried out properly
(for 2001-02), little was done to remove encroachers, the authorities failed to
keep count of the arms, ammunition and wireless sets provided for tackling
poaching and even the State Board for Wildlife that is headed by the Chief
Minister himself did not meet to monitor and evaluate the implementation.
The CAG noted that of the proposed outlay of Rs. 20.97
crores for 2001-06 for the Manas and Nameri National Parks, the Centre approved
only Rs. 10.59 crores and further that only Rs. 3.30 crore (only 16% of the
original amount) was finally released.
The report pointed out that as per directions of the
Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) funds released by the Centre
for wildlife should reach the field level within six weeks of release and that
the Supreme Court had ordered in 2005 that the money should in fact reach the
field in 15 days time. Yet, in the case of
The Centre then considered the unspent money as savings
at the end of 2003-04 and thus released no funds for the subsequent years for
the two parks.
The report has also noted that 37 firearms out of a total
of 116 in the two parks were missing. As many as 48 arms used by the
authorities had become ‘illegal’ as their licenses had not been renewed. While
the reason cited for the missing arms was that miscreants had snatched them,
the CAG found out that there were no details such as date and place of
snatching, FIR numbers or police investigations to prove the claim. The
accounts related to arms and ammunition maintained by the Field Director of
Manas NP too were found to be incomplete and improper.
Source: Samudra
Gupta Kashyap. ‘
Contact:
Director, Manas TR, see above
Chief Wildlife Warden –
GUJARAT
Eight
lions poached in and around Gir; another 11 die in open wells
Eight lions have been poached in and around the
forests of the
The
Forest Department set up a Special Investigation Team immediately after the
first incident and announced an award of Rs. 50,000 for information that would
lead to the arrest of the poachers. In a breakthrough in the first week of
April a group of 17 people, including 15 women were arrested in the matter.
They had a number of lion claws and poaching tools on them. Those arrested are
believed to be traditional tiger poachers from Itarsi and Katni in Madhya
Pradesh.
Responding
to the situation, the Central Government also constituted a Special Committee
in early April to under take a spot appraisal and report on the matter. The
announcement was made by the National National Tiger Conservation Authority.
The team was constituted of the Regional Deputy Directors (Wildlife) Ms. Meeta
Banerjee, Western Region and Shri Santosh Tiwari, Northern Region. Pramod
Krishnan, Joint Director (Wildlife) was made the Member Convenor.
The Committee was asked to
look into the protection strategy in place for the lions vis-à-vis their
mortality during the last three years (natural/disease/poaching), resource
dependency of local people on the Gir habitat, steps taken towards redressing
park-people conflicts and fostering co-existence and possibility of restorative
management in crucial corridor linkages around Gir. The Committee was given a
month to submit its report.
The Gujarat State Government
too announced a number of measures. These include the creation of the ‘wildlife
crime’ cell in both the Police and Forest Departments, the appointing of ‘Van
Mitras’ for protection work and allocation of Rs. 40 crores for lion
conservation.
It was also reported that
another five lions in the Barbaria range were not being accounted for and the
fear has been expressed that these too would have been poached.
In related developments at
least 11 other lions are reported to have died by falling into the open wells
in and around Gir in the first four months of 2007. (See PA Update Vol.
XI, No. 6).
Source: No
breakthrough in Gir lions’ killings probe’, http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/37157.html
Belinda Wright. ‘Tiger poachers behind killing of Gir Lions’, Email dated 08/04/07
‘Constitution of a Committee for
Spot Appraisal of Lions in and around
Prerna Bindra. (Story in The Pioneer), 19/04/07.
Atul Nischal. ‘Another Lioness dead, 19 Asiatic lion have died in
the Gir sanctuary in the past 4 months’, Email dated 15/05/07
Contact: Bharat Pathak, CF (Wildlife) Junagadh,
Sardar Bag, Junagadh,
Kishore Kotecha, Asiatic
Lion Protection Society, 128,
Belinda Wright, Wildlife
Protection Society of
E-mail: wpsi@vsnl.com
Website: www.wpsi-india.org
Salt
makers to resist relocation from the Dhrangadhra Wild Ass Sanctuary
Nearly 43,000 salt makers spread over 107 villages
around the Little Rann of Kutch have decided to resist their relocation from
the Dhrangadhra Wild Ass Sanctuary spread over nearly 5000 sq. kms.
The State Forest Department
has already issued eviction notices but the situation has been complicated by
the fact that the State Government has also provided identity cards to nearly
41,000 of them, certifying them as traditional salt-makers.
The Government traditionally
leased out arid and fallow land for `salt farming' to local individuals as well
as some 20-odd companies. Until 1963-64, this renewable lease for a plot of
five to ten acres was for 10 years and thereafter for five years. But when the
sanctuary was created in the early 70s attempts were made by the State Forest
Department, to acquire the lands. While the companies' lease continued to be
renewed as usual, the individuals' leases were not renewed from 1997 onwards.
The salt-makers were finally issued eviction notices in early 2007.
The Gujarat Chief Minister,
Mr. Narendra Modi is himself reported to have taken up their cause. Addressing
the ‘Agaria Kalyan Sammelan’ in April in village Patdi he assured the
salt-makers that he would fight with the Centre to protect their traditional
rights for salt-making. He also regretted the fact that the issue had cropped
up at a time when the State Government was planning to develop the Navlakhi
Port near the Little Rann of Kutch with a special jetty dedicated for salt
export so as to fetch the best prices for salt-makers' labour.
It has also been pointed out
that the State Government wanted to use satellite communication and modern
technology to make salt-making scientific. It would be introducing special
courses in the ITIs for wards of salt-makers and promote prawn culture to
create job opportunities.
Source: Virendra
Pandit. ‘Salt makers in
Contact: Sanctuary
Suprintendant,
GEER
to take up project on Great Indian Bustard
The Gujarat Ecological Education and Research (GEER)
Foundation has initiated a project to study the habitat status of the Great
Indian Bustard (GIB) in
The main objective of the
project is to gather information on the population of the bird in areas where
sightings have been recently reported. The Gujarat Forest Department and other
NGOs will collaborate in the project that will also use GIS and Remote sensing
systems to locate the birds and their habitat.
The
Director of GEER pointed out that there have been recent reports of the bird
from Velavadar in the Bhal region of Saurashtra and also from the Surendranagar
district. The FD has said they will also search in areas east of Naliya in Bhuj
as also along the Mandvi coastline for the bird.
Source: Shubhlakshmi Shukla. ‘Foundation, forest dept GEERing up to study Great Indian Bustard’, Indian Express, 12/02/07.
Contact: GEER
Foundation,
CWLW - Gujarat, Block 14, Dr. Jivraj Mehta Bhavan, Old Sachivalaya,
Gandhinagar-382010,
HIMACHAL
PRADESH
Survey for rationalization of PAs
A high-level Central team
comprising wildlife experts has recently surveyed the Kugti, Tundah and
Kalatop-Khajjiar Wildlife Sanctuaries (WLSs) to re-demarcate and exclude areas
having human habitation on their fringes. The team also held consultations with
representatives of panchayati raj institutions.
Villagers in these areas
have been demanding exclusion from the boundaries of the PAs for a long time
(see PA Update Vol. XII, No. 3, June 2006). They have pointed out that
they had been unable to protect themselves and their crops from large-scale
depredation from wildlife and that even the construction of houses, roads,
bridges and other developmental activities were impeded in their areas owing to
the stringent provisions of Wildlife Protection Act and Forest Conservation
Act.
Source: Balkrishan Prashar. ‘Wildlife sanctuaries surveyed’, The Tribune, 06/05/07
Contact: Chief
Wildlife Warden, Himachal Pradesh, Talland, Shimla – 171001. Tel:
0177-2624193. Email: Vtandy@gmail.com
Mining inside Limber and Lachipora
WLSs
The
J&K State Department of Geology & Mining has allotted gypsum mining
leases to private parties inside the Limber and Lachipora Wildlife Sanctuaries
in the Baramula district. Some 1400 kanals of land in the area have been leased
out for the purpose. A survey in the area in 2005 had reported
the presence of a good number of musk deer, tragopans and markhor here.
The
State’s
The
miners meanwhile have said that they have done nothing wrong and followed all
procedures laid down by the government.
Source: Mir Ehsan. ‘J&K creates its largest national park,
but allows mining inside’, The Indian Express, 16/04/07.
Contact: Wildlife Warden North,
Incharge – Lachipora and Limber WLSs, C/o CWLW, Government of Jammu & Kashmir, Tourist Reception Centre
(TRC),
JHARKHAND
Conflict in Dalma over ritual hunting
Like in the earlier years
there was conflict and tension between the Forest Department (FD) at the Dalma
Wildlife Sanctuary and tribals here over the latter’s intention to conduct
their ritual hunting called Sendra in the local parlance. The tribals
have decided to fight for their ‘rights’ to save their ‘tradition’ under the
aegis of the, Dalmaburu Sendra Samity (DSS).
This year, the tribal chiefs here met on April 14 decided
to conduct the ritual hunt on April 30. Accordingly, hundreds of tribal youth
from Jharkhand and the adjoining states of Orissa and
The DSS has pointed out that the tribals are being
targeted and being prevented from conducting their traditional activities while
a number of other activities that are detrimental to the forests and wildlife
are continuing unhindered. They have pointed out in particular to the stone
crushing units operating at the foothills of the Dalma range.
FD officials have also
pointed out that the ritual hunting was subdued this time because of
clandestine interventions of Maoist extremists, who are reported to have
threatened the tribals with harm if they killed innocent animals. The FD also
says that their ongoing efforts to educate the tribal community against the
mass killing has started to pay off. The FD has also conveyed to the DSS that
they are ready to share the bulk of the cost of the ceremony and organise a
huge feast for the tribals on the day the chiefs select to observe Sendra.
(Also see PA Updates 55, 50 & 25)
Source:
‘Dalma tribals up in arms against Forest Department’, The Statesman,
04/05/07.
Contact: Divisional
Forest Officer, Dalma WLS, Wildlife Division,
Proposal
for Conservation Reserve status to
The Karnataka Forest Department (FD) has proposed to
declare the
Earlier the lake was under
the Lake Development Authority (LDA) and was listed for development for
commercial purposes under the Public-Private Partnership Model. The FD is now
said to have written to the state government to withdraw the lake from the LDA
list and hand it over to them for conservation purposes.
Source:
Chief Wildlife Warden - Karnataka, 2nd Floor, 18th Cross, Malleshwaram, Bangalore
KERALA
State approves hydroelectric project near Silent
Valley NP
The
The project envisages a 64.5 meter high dam with a storage
capacity of 0.872 million cum and a power generation capacity of 70 mw. The dam
is to come up on the River Kunthi, which flows through the national park.
Environmentalists have expressed serious concern about
the dam and its impact on the forests and wildlife of the park. Many say the
project will be as damaging at the Silent Valley Hydro-Electric project (SVHEP)
that had been called off due to protests in the 1980s.
It has also been pointed out that a detailed Environment
Impact Assessment (EIA) has not been conducted for the project and that there
has been stiff resistance to the project after a public hearing in 2004.
The Kerala State Electricity Board, which is promoting
the project says that the fears are unfounded and that the project will submerge
only 22 hectares of forests whereas as SVHEP would have submerged 830 hectares.
(Also see PA Updates Vol.
XII, Nos. 2 & 5)
Source:
M Suchitra. ‘Disputed project’, Down to Earth, 31/05/07.
Contact: Wildlife
Warden, Silent Valley NP, Forest
Department, Mannarghat
River Research Centre,
Kerala. Email: rrckerala@gmail.com
Ramachandran
Balachandran. Email:
rbalachan@gmail.com
New
tiger monitoring protocol in Periyar
The Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) will introduce a new
tiger monitoring protocol by which monitoring of tigers will become a daily
affair. Under the protocol, an integrated effort involving camera traps,
observation of pugmarks, reading of direct tiger sighting using the Global
Positioning System (GPS) and monitoring of the prey base of tigers will be made
to keep track of the big cat.
The PTR has recently
procured 40 camera traps for the purpose of which ten have already been
installed.
A tiger monitoring team
comprising 12 tribal youths belonging to the Mannan, Paliya and Ooralis
communities have also been trained in installing camera traps and using the
GPS.
Source: KS Sudhi. ‘New Tiger monitoring protocol in Periyar’, The Hindu, 09/04/07.
Contact: Contact:
Field Director, Periyar Tiger Reserve, Aranya Bhavan,
Illegal
trekking in Periyar TR
The Forest Department has reported illegal trekking
operations by tour operators in the tourism zone of the Periyar Tiger Reserve.
It has also been suggested that these trekkers are the cause of most of the
recent fires that have been reported in the grasslands in the region.
In an incident reported in
April, a group comprising 19 foreigners and six guides were rounded up. While
the tourists were let off, the guides were fined.
Source: KS Sudhi. ‘New Tiger monitoring protocol in Periyar’, The Hindu, 09/04/07.
Fires reported in April in Parambikulam WLS,
Nelliampathy forests
Hundreds of acres of forests
and plantations were destroyed by forest fires in April in the Parambikulam
Wildlife Sanctuary and at
The fire in the Thuthumpara
area of the Parambikulam WLS was put out by about 100 labourers of Thuthampara
Estate of Poab's Group and the forest firewatchers under the Nemmara Forest
Division.
One of the reasons for the
fires is said to be the lack of pre-monsoon showers in the area, which has been
experiencing an unprecedented drought this year. Temperatures had shot up to 36
deg. Celcius while the normal range here is 14-26 degrees. The region also
received only four mm of rain in the January and nothing after that.
Forest Department (FD)
officials said that the fires were started because of the negligence on part of
those who go to collect forest produce and honey. They also alleged that some
of the retrenched forest firewatchers were behind the fires and that one person
had also been arrested in this connection.
As part of the measures to
prevent fires, the FD is reported to have spent Rs.10 lakh for anti-fire
measures in the Nemmara division. Daily wage firewatchers whose services were
terminated in March were also taken back
Estate owners in the area
have held the FD responsible for the fires. They have alleged that there is no
proper management and fire and wind belts were not being maintained properly.
The fires have also led to a large number of wild animals including elephant,
wild pig, gaur and deer from entering plantations and causing extensive damage.
It has also been pointed out that increased tourism activity was aggravating
the problem.
Source:
G Prabhakaran. ‘Fire engulfs Parambikulam, Nelliampathy forests’, The Hindu,
09/04/07.
Contact: Wildlife
Warden, Parambikulam Division, P.O. Thunacadavu (Via) Pollachi Dist.
Palakkad-678661. Tel: 04253-267233
Crocodile
research centre at Neyyar WLS
The Kerala Forest Minister recently inaugurated the
‘Steve Irwin
Crocodile Rehabilitation and Research Centre’ at the Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary.
The Centre has been created in the memory of the popular conservationist and TV
personality who died recently.
A crocodile farm already
exists at the Neyyar WLS. It had been set up in 1977 under the crocodile
protection scheme of the Centre and is home to 44 muggers or marsh crocodiles.
Source: ‘Minister to inaugurate crocodile research centre’, The Hindu, 15/05/07
Contact: Asst. Wildlife Warden, Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary, P.O. Neyyar Dam, Dist. Thiruvananthapuram – 695013. Kerala. Tel: 0471-2360762.
Chief Wildlife Warden – Kerala, Vazhudacaud, Trivandrum
MADHYA PRADESH
WII
study indicates fall in tiger population in MP
Surveys conducted by the Wildlife Institute of India
(WII) using a new methodology indicate fall in tiger numbers in Madhya Pradesh.
This was indicated at a presentation made by the Dr. YV Jhala at the recent
Global Tiger Forum’s International Tiger Symposium in
It
has been suggested that tiger numbers in the state are fewer than 300, a figure
that is less than half the 710 enumerated in the last census. Of these 110-144
tigers were reported from the Kanha-Pench corridor while 40-45 tigers were
reported in the Satpura corridor. The Bandavgarh Panna corridor is believed to
have no more than 50-55 tigers. Besides this, the only other population of the
big cat is west of the
The
first phase of this enumeration exercise was conducted in January 2006. The
method involves several stages - use of camera traps, testing of DNA samples
and mapping tiger density using GIS. It includes scanning of the landscapes for
carnivore signs like pug marks, scratches, and scats and also recording signs
of herbivore presence.
Source: Prerna Bindra. ‘Tiger population goes down in MP’, The Pioneer, 24/04/07.
Contact: Field
Director,
CWLW, MP, Van Bhawan, Tulsi
Nagar,
Lesser
florican spotted in Great Indian Bustard Sanctuary after 1879
A Lesser Florican was seen in the grasslands of the
Great Indian Bustard (GIB) Sanctuary in Solapur district for the first time
since 1879.
The
sub-adult bird was rescued by a young shepherd, Bandu Bhise, as it was being
chased by dogs. He took the bird to his school teacher who informed local
foresters.
The
shepherd boy was honoured by the Forest Department with a citation.
The
incident is being considered an important positive outcome of the recent initiative
of the FD here to educate people in the region of the grassland birds like the
GIB.
Source: ‘Endangered bird spotted’, Maharashtra Herald.
Contact: CF
Wildlife, Pune Division,
Fires
in Melghat and Tadoba Andhari TRs
Large-scale fires and related damage were reported
to forests in the Melghat and Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserves in the month of
April.
Fires
were reported in five compartments in the Jamni beat under Khatoda in Tadoba in
early April followed by more fires in Compartments 112, 111 and 113. The total
area affected in Tadoba Andhari was 111 hectares, while that in Melghat was 62
hectares.
Source: ‘Fresh
fires in tiger reserves’, The Times of
Contact: Field
Director, Melghat Tiger Reserve,
PCCF (Wildlife). Dr. Ambedkar Bhawan, MECL Bldg. Seminary
Hills & Campus,
KYKL camp busted in Keibul
Lamjao NP
A camp of the proscribed Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lupkykl (KYKL), an underground group in Manipur was busted inside the
The underground activists who were camping at an overgrown spot located
4km from Keibul Sagram fired at the advancing troops at around 5am leading to
exchange of heavy firing from both sides. After the firing ceased they were
reported to have abandoned their camp and fled.
No casualties, however, were reported on either side or to the
endangered Sangai, the brow-antlered deer that is found here.
Source: AR busts KYKL hideout’, The Sangai Express,
24/03/07.
Contact: Salam
Rajesh, Sagolband Salam, Leikai. PO: Imphal-1, Manipur. Tel:
0385-222395. Email: salamrajesh@rediffmail.com; salraj_imp@yahoo.com; salraj_imp@yahoo.com
Protests
against encroachment in Intanki NP
Students and villagers of the Zeliangrong Naga tribe
recently demonstrated before the Nagaland Assembly demanding removal of
encroachers from
The demonstrators, who had
assembled under the aegis of All Zeliangrong Students’
They also demanded eviction of encroachers from the Dhansiripar sub-division, in Dimapur district, asserting that the encroached land traditionally belonged to the Zelian