[ Prafulla Kaman ]
JONAI, 1 Feb: The third edition of the Poba Forest Festival at Lali-Beraghat (Bahir-Jonai) in Assam’s Dhemaji district began on Sunday with participation of nature lovers, NGO workers, and entrepreneurs.
The festival is an annual event organised by the Mising Autonomous Council. The main objective of the festival is to sensitise the people to the conservation of natural resources in and around the Poba reserve forest (RF).
Eminent citizens from Pasighat in East Siang district, including forest department officials, NGO workers and community organisation leaders, are participating in the festival.
The inaugural programme of the four-day festival included opening of the festival gate, followed by inauguration of exhibition stalls, a handloom expo, a food mela, and cultural and sports grounds.
The Dibrugarh regional office of the Central Bureau of Communication is conducting a four-day ‘Viksit Bharat’ campaign at the festival venue, displaying various developmental initiatives taken up by central government departments.
The main highlights of the festival include jungle trekking, birdwatching in Poba RF, and exhibition of wildlife photographs, besides display of traditional attires, a food mela and water sports.
A seminar on the topic ‘Climate change and biodiversity conservation and ecotourism prospect’ will be held on the third day of the event.
It may be recalled that the Poba RF was notified in 1924 (during the British rule), but it is gradually losing its green cover due to constant encroachment and erosion posed by the Lali river in the last two decades.
The upper portion of the Poba RF falls in Ruksin territorial range under Pasighat division as National Highway 515 passing along the Assam-Arunachal boundary here crosses through the reserve forest.
There is an elephant corridor linking the Poba RF with the Pasighat RF, Daying Ering Wildlife Sanctuary in East Siang and the Dibru Saikhuwa Wildlife Sanctuary in Upper Assam, across the Brahmaputra river.
