Alipurduar no ‘biosphere reserve’

Kolkata: A proposal to give Alipurduar the ‘Buxa Biosphere Reserve’ tag was reportedly scrapped at the Bengal wildlife advisory board meeting held at Nabanna on Tuesday.
It was reportedly discussed at the meeting that since Alipurduar was recently announced as a district, nothing could come in the way of development activities there.
Conservationists fear that the move will give a boost to proposed development activities in and around Buxa — from a state inspection bungalow-cum-guest house to a proposed helipad in the middle of the tiger reserve.
State chief wildlife warden Ravikant Sinha told TOI that during the last board meeting, it was proposed to give the status to Alipurduar that not only houses Buxa tiger reserve but is also home to Jaldapara National Park, famous for one-horned rhinos.
A source said the proposal had been mooted at the last board meeting in October 2015. “A special committee led by the then additional PCCF was formed and it submitted its action-taken report,” the source added.
What has stunned experts is that Tuesday’s decision was taken even though the proposed tiger relocation in Buxa was also discussed at the meeting.
The proposal to give Alipurduar biosphere reserve status was aimed at enhancing protection not only in the core areas of Buxa and Jaldapara but also in the buffer zones. Senior bureaucrats at Tuesday’s meeting reportedly promised foresters that funds would be sanctioned for the same.