00:00Honorable Prime Minister, sir, have recognized the initiatives taken by Sunayatupaya Wildlife
00:05Ministry, Assam Forest Department. The story is, we have reclaimed 150 hectares of area,
00:11partly from army and from the local enforcement. So we have evicted and taken over some land from
00:17the army. So the total area is 150, 40 to 50 hectares. So immediately after reclaiming this
00:24area, we went for a wildlife friendly plantation. So we started planting grasses as well as some
00:29tree species, expecting that wildlife will use it in the future. But within a two years,
00:34span of two, three years, we started documenting lakots using the area, deers using the area,
00:40lots of bird species. And last couple of months, we started getting a huge herd of elephants as well.
00:48So for us, it is the biggest achievement. And even bigger is when Honorable Prime Minister, sir,
00:55have recognized the initiative taken by the Assam Forest Department at the national level.
00:59Sunayatupaya is, encroachment is a huge problem. It is a historical problem. Right from 1990s,
01:05we are dealing with this. So steps we have taken is, we are addressing the area's pathway patch.
01:10So we have made up plan for entire Sunayatupaya Wildlife Ministry, how to reclaim the entire wildlife
01:16sensory. And first step is this. So we have taken over the land from Indian Army in 2023-2024 financial
01:23year.
01:23The initiative is taken from this office. We started writing the letter saying that this is
01:28a wildlife sensory. They handed a word. Yes. And this is a wildlife sensory. And mainly this is an
01:33elephant movement area. And a lot of elephants died inside the Lama camp, particularly in 2022,
01:39August 3 elephants had died. So we had to take this matter to Indian Army and gracefully Indian Army
01:44have agreed to it. And after a year-long process, this handing over of the area was given to
01:52Asamporos Department. That is only a part. That is only 40 hectare. Now, apart from that,
01:58almost 500 hectare, sorry, 40 hectare. So apart from that, more than 500-600 acres of area,
02:04which was enclosed along with the Lama camp, was also wrecking. So we evicted those people.
02:09They were all encroaches. They had land outside also. So we had to evict all those people.
02:14And in that patch, 150 hectare approximately, the entire area we have taken out. And we have
02:20started doing habitat management. So Nailupaya wildlife sensory, the encroachment is in a massive
02:24scale. And there are a lot of people inside the sensory. And you cannot take an initiative that,
02:31okay, today there is an encroachment, you go and do the eviction. So things will not happen in this way.
02:36So we started taking the inputs from the field, inputs from the people. And we have given a
02:42resettlement plan 20-30 years before. Now we cannot go simply and go and do the eviction. That is
02:48not possible. So what we have taken is, we have taken the inputs from the people also,
02:53that this is wildlife sensory, this is reserved for us, this is this law. So we made a plan accordingly.
