Raimona and Dehing Patkai in Assam Notified as National Parks
With Raimona Reserve Forest and Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary notified as national parks, Assam now has seven national parks, the state with the second highest number of national parks in India. Madhya Pradesh with 11 and the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands with nine, top the list in the respective categories.
The announcement of Raimona as a national park was made by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on June 5 while the announcement of the government notification for both Dehing Patkai and Raimona was made by the state&rsquos forest minister Parimal Suklabaidya, on June 9.
Raimona is located in the Kokrajhar district of Assam, and is bound by Phipsoo Wildlife Sanctuary of Bhutan, the Buxa Tiger Reserve of West Bengal and the state&rsquos own Manas National Park. According to wildlife experts, the forest is home to the endangered Golden Langur, besides elephants, tiger, over 150 bird species, butterflies, etc.
Dehing Patkai is located across Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts of Assam. Famous for Assam Valley Tropical Wet Evergreen forests bordering Arunachal Pradesh, it is also part of the Dehing-Patkai Elephant Reserve. There are World War II cemeteries nearby, along with the Stillwell Road and the oldest refinery of Asia in Digboi and &lsquoopen cast&rsquo coal mining at Lido. Last year, the wildlife sanctuary was in the news as environmentalists alleged coal mining was taking place in the protected area.
As a national park, Dehing Patkai will now include the wildlife sanctuary as well as additional areas from adjoining reserve forests, according to media reports. Apart from a large number of bird and reptile species, Dehing Patkai also has many mammal species, including Chinese pangolin, Slow loris, various kinds of macaque, Hoolock gibbon, Himalayan black bear, Leopard, Tiger, Sambar, Barking deer, Gaur, Serow, etc. The sanctuary is about 80km by road from Dibrugarh Airport in Mohanbari.
The other five national parks of Assam are Kaziranga, Nameri, Orang, Manas and Dibru-Saikhowa, of which Kaziranga and Manas are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
