Manas eyes lost lustre

A STAFF REPORTER TELEGRAPH INDIA
Guwahati, June 9: The Assam forest department is going into an overdrive to get back the coveted heritage status for Manas National Park by plugging the loopholes pointed out by the monitoring mission of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Unesco.
The team, comprising experts, toured Manas in February this year to find out whether the government had been able to implement the World Heritage Centre’s recommendations that are essential to remove the park’s Heritage Site in Danger tag.

A park official said the monitoring mission in its report to the Centre had expressed concern over vacant posts, delay in release of funds, failure to check poaching and illegal felling of trees in the Panbari range of the national park.

Based on the report, the ministry of environment and forests asked the state forest department to take remedial steps and send a report without delay.

“We have taken note of the concerns raised by the team and will send our replies soon. However, we are running short of time,” the official said.

The 32nd meeting of the World Heritage Committee will be held in Quebec City, Canada, from July 2 to 10.

The World Heritage Committee will discuss the findings of the team and the recommendations of the World Heritage Centre and the IUCN before taking a decision.

The need to fill up the vacancies was earlier pointed out by the 2005 monitoring mission that also voiced concern over the delay in release of funds by the Assam government.

The Supreme Court has ordered that funds must be released by the state government within 15 days from the date of its sanction by the Centre.

“This is a problem and we are trying to sort it out. However, the situation has slightly improved after the formation of the Bodoland Territorial Council,” the official said.