| FORESTRY |
9.1.0.
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Assam
is known for its extensive forest areas and availability of rich floras
and faunas besides other valuable forest products. As per information
available from the State Forest Department, the total area under forests
in Assam was 26,781.91 Sq.km. at the end of March, 2003, out of which
15,492.329 Sq. Km. was under Reserved Forests and 2,860.942 Sq. Km.
under Protected Forest Area. Thus, the Forests area constitute about
34.14 percent of the total geographical area of Assam. The forests
in the plain districts are managed by the State Forest Department
while the authorities for management of the forest in the two hill
districts are their respective District Councils. |
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9.1.1.
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The
forests products of the State mainly comprised of industrial wood,
fuel wood, bamboo, stone, thatch, cane, sand etc. According to information
available from the State Forest Department, the out-turn of fuel-wood
product of the State was 29,586.47 stack cubic metre (Provisional)
during the year 2000-2001. |
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9.1.2.
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A good
amount of revenue is earned by the State Government from its various
Forest products. The amount of revenue earned from the forest products
during the year 1999-2000, 2000-2001 and 2001-2002 were Rs.1473.00
lakh, 1476.50 lakh and Rs.1207.77 lakh respectively. The revenue collection
for the year 2002-2003 has been provisionally estimated at Rs.1854.50
lakh. |
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9.1.3.
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The
importance of Forestry lies not only with its productivity but also
in its capacity to prevent soil erosion. The State Government has
therefore continued to impose ban on indiscriminate felling of trees
in the State. This apart, the depletion of forest resources in the
State in recent years have led to the implementation of various Forestry
development programmes such as Afforestation and Social Forestry,
Wildlife management, improvement of infrastructural facilities etc.
The achievement made in respect of different Forestry development
programmes in the State during the year 1999-2000, 2000-2001, 2001-2002
and 2002-2003 may be observed at Table 9.1. |
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| SOCIAL FORESTRY : |
9.2.0.
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The
Social Forestry programme is an important programme being undertaken
by the State Forest Department. The programme mainly aims at increasing
area under Afforestation especially in Residential Area and otherwise
Occupied Areas of the State. The achievement under Social Forestry
scheme was 3871 hectares of area during 2001-2002 against the targeted
area of 3835 hectares. The number of seedlings planted under this
scheme was 96.76 lakh during the year. The scheme-wise expenditure
on afforestation during 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 is shown in Table-9.2. |
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| FOREST ROADS : |
9.3.0
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The
length of Forest road in Assam as on 31-03-2002 was 6076.245 Km. The
length of Surfaced Forest road was 269.947 Km. and Unsurfaced Forest
road was 5806.298 Km. of which 3438.351 Km. were motorable and 2367.947
Km. were non-motorable roads. |
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| WILD LIFE : |
9.4.0
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One
of the most attractive features of the State’s Forestry sector
is its colourful wildlife comprising variety of animals, reptiles,
birds and fishes. Some of the species found in the State are either
exclusive to her or are rarely to be seen in any part of the country.
Assam is famous all over the world as the home of great one-horned
Rhinoceros. The highly endangered species of the world found in Assam
are Hollock Gibbon, the Stump-tailed Macaque, the Capped Languor and
Golden Languor monkeys, the Pigmy Hog, the Clouded Leopard, the Golden
Cat, the White Winged Wood Duck etc. Assam is one of the best destinations
where tourist can encounter a great variety of wildlife. |
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For
the protection and preservation of the wildlife of Assam there are
five National Parks and twelve Wildlife and three Bird Sanctuaries.
The area under National Parks and Sanctuaries is shown in table-9.3 |
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The
one horned rhino is largely concentrated in the Kaziranga National
Park, where a range of about fourteen different types of grass provide
them ample forage. The rhino is also found in smaller number in some
other wildlife sanctuaries in the State. The rhino population has
increased to 1672 (as per 2000, Animal Census) from 1164 (as per 1993
Animal Census) in Kaziranga National Park alone. The elephant population
is thriving in almost all the reserved sanctuaries and wildlife habitats.
According to 1993 Animal Census Kaziranga National Park has about
1092 elephants followed by Manas National Park (522), Nameri National
Park (202) and Dibru-Saikhowa (131). The Orang National Park has about
6, Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary 28 and Barnadi Wildlife Sanctuary 6
elephants according to 1997 Animal Census. For preservation and protection
of tiger population a centrally sponsored scheme “Tiger Project”
is also located at Manas National Park. Tiger population was 89 at
Manas National Park according to 1997 Animal Census and the same was
80 in Kaziranga National Park, 29 each in Nameri and Dibru-Saikhowa
Wildlife Sanctuaries, 16 in Orang National Park, 8 in Laokhowa and
3 in Barnadi Wildlife Sanctuaries. |
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Assam
boasts of a variety of other exotic wildlife mammals as well as the
multihued winged species like Swamp Deer, Sambar, Hog Deer, Sloth
Beer, Hog Badger, Indian Bison, Water Buffalo, Jackal, Goose, Hornbills,
Ibis, Cormorants, Egret, Heron, Fishing Eagle, Hill Partridges, Yellow
Brittern, Emerald Dove and Pelican. |
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9.2.3.
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The
volume of Central assistance utilised for development of various National
Parks of the State during 2001-02 and 2002-03 may be seen at Table
9.4. |
