People unhappy as picnic prohibited in forest lands of North Dinajpur

Raiganj: The officials of Raiganj Social Forestry Division of North Dinajpur district have prohibited picnics in all forest land of the district. Now picnics will not be allowed in Abdulghata Forest, Sealmoni Forest and Bhattodighi in Raiganj and Baharile Forest in Hemtabad of the district this year.

In order to save greenery, the forest officials took this decision. The picnickers were upset with the news of prohibition before Christmas and demanded the forest officials to allow picnics in some specific spots which are outside the main forest.

Dawa Sangmu Sherpa, the Divisional Forest Officer of Raiganj Social Forestry Division said: “In the dry season, a fire incident may occur so we banned picnics in around 600 hectare forest land in our district. In addition, we planted saplings in the forest land. For the preservation of forests, picnics will not be allowed this year. We appeal to the picnickers to consider the difficulties.” Shankar Roy, a resident of Raiganj said: “Every year on December 25, numerous picnic parties from different places of the district and far away areas visit Sealmoni, Bhattodighi and Abdulghata forests and organise picnics. They also visit Kulik Bird Sanctuary, the largest bird sanctuary in Asia, during their stay. Then the government gets a huge amount of revenue from the tourists. After the prohibition of picnics in all the spots of forest land, the government will have a great loss of revenue.”

Gautam Tantia, the Secretary of North Dinajpur People For Animals said: “Previously, the picnic in the premises of Kulik Bird Sanctuary and its adjoining areas was prohibited. The picnickers were allowed at Sealmoni, Abdulghata and Bhattadighi spots. However, this year the forest officials banned picnics in these areas too. We will appeal to the forest officials to reconsider their decision and allow picnickers to some spots in the forest lands.”