Guwahati, Oct 23: Over 20 community members around Raimona National Park (RNP) in Assam, were
provided field gear in the form of winter boots and rechargeable torches on October 16 last.
These community members from 6 key villages around the Central Range of RNP form the first Community
Surveillance and Monitoring Teams- an initiation by Legal and Advocacy Division (LAD) by Aaranyak
with the purpose of augmenting community surveillance to help forest department in for protection of
wildlife.
These teams, deployed in around 6 villages fringing RNP pose as first line of defence against illegalities
against wildlife in their respective villages while taking the onus to create mass awareness among the
broader public about wildlife crime, conservation and inculcate sensitivity among the community towards
having love for the wildlife thriving in areas surrounding them.
The programme was endorsed by the Divisional Forest Officer of Kachugaon Forest Division, Mustafa Ali
Ahmed while being graced by two Range Officers of RNP- from Central Range, Someswas Boro and
Sanfan Range Biswajit Basumatary, respectively.
The event was coordinated by the Aaranyak LAD’s Senior Project Officer Ivy Farheen Hussain, Project
Officer Mizing Boro and Assistant Project Officer Bijeet Baro. The CSMT remains a LAD novel initiative
which recognizes that the community around a protected area (PA) needs to be secured as much as the area
inside the boundary of the PA.