Expanded tiger reserve may see return of gharials in Assam

The government has issued notification to make Orang National Park more than thrice its existing size

The gharial, wiped out from the Brahmaputra River system in the 1950s, could be the prime beneficiary of a process to expand an Assam tiger reserve that shed its “Congress connection” five months ago.

The Assam government had on January 3 issued a preliminary notification for adding 200.32 sq. km to the 78.82 sq. km Orang National Park, the State’s oldest game reserve about 110 km northeast of Guwahati.

Much of the area to be added comprises the Brahmaputra river and the sandbars or islands in it, some cultivated by locals or used as sheds for livestock. Forest officials said the administrative heads of the Darrang and Sonitpur districts have been asked to determine the “existence, nature and the right of any person in or over the proposed schedule of land”.