Assamchief ministerHimanta Biswa Sarmaannounced that the Raimona reserve forest in Kokrajhar under the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), bordering Bhutan, has been upgraded as the sixth of the state.
Announcing this on the occasion ofWorld Environment Dayhere, the chief minister said that with the new addition, the state now has sixnational parks.
The process to convert Dehing Patkai wildlife sanctuary into a national park is also under progress, he said.
The Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 says whenever it appears to the State Government that an area, whether within a sanctuary or not, is, by reason of its ecological, faunal, floral, geomorphological or zoological association or importance,needed to be constituted as a national park for the purpose of protecting, propagating or developing wild life therein or its environment.
The other five national parks in Assam are- Kaziranga, Manas, Nameri, Orang and Dibru-Saikhowa.
The Raimona national park falls under BTR’s Kokrajhar district and is a part of contiguous forest patch with an area of 422 square km covering the northern part of the notified Ripu Reserve Forest which forms the westernmost buffer to Manas Tiger Reserve in the foothills of Eastern Himalaya Biodiversity Hotspot.
The new national park Shares contiguous forest patches of Phipsoo Wildlife Sanctuary and Jigme Singye Wangchuk National Park in Bhutan (total area of 1,9 creating a transboundary conservation landscape of more than 2,400 square km.