Centre nod to set up commando battalion in Hailakandi dist

Guwahati: The ministry of forest, environment and climate Change’s (MoEF&CC) Forest Advisory Committee has granted in-principle ex-post facto approval for the diversion of 11.5 hectares of land to establish a commando battalion in Hailakandi district.
The approval, granted on Aug 27, was based on recommendations from the state govt, Assam’s additional principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) and the divisional forest officer (DFO) of Hailakandi.They believed that “establishment of the battalion with well trained and armed personnel could be of immense help to the state forest department for the protection, conservation and management of forest and forest resources.”
The state govt had submitted a proposal seeking prior approval from the Centre in favour of the DFO, Hailakandi Division, for the non-forestry use of 11.5 hectares of forest land to establish the 2nd Commando Battalion Camp at Damchera in the Inner Line Reserved Forest (ILRF) under the division. The DFO recommended the establishment of the camp, stating that the ILRF has been facing aggression from the Mizoram side, including tree felling, jhoom cultivation, areca nut plantation, illegal settlements, encroachment, road construction, installation of BOPs, IED explosions, and unprovoked firing, resulting in the loss of forest cover and human lives.
The DFO believed that the commando battalion camp would help counter these aggressive actions and assist the forest department in augmenting the forest cover in the ILRF.
The additional PCCF supported the DFO’s recommendation, noting that the ILRF has long been facing illegal settlements and encroachment from the neighboring state of Mizoram. The additional PCCF mentioned that on July 7, 2021, when the Assam govt attempted to remove encroachments from the ILRF, “the forest officials and police personnel met with unprovoked firing, which resulted in casualties on the side of Assam police force.” Consequently, the forest department requested the police department to provide special armed forces to prevent further encroachment and evict encroachers in phases. In response, the police department requested the forest department to hand over forest land for the establishment of a commando camp.