Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi has questioned the Assam government over the alleged removal of an incomplete 2022 gazette notification concerning the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve from its official website.
In a post on X, Gogoi claimed that the Panbari wildlife corridor was missing from the version uploaded on the state government portal. He said the complete notification available on the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve website ran from pages 1,328 to 1,455, while the state portal version ended at page 1,426, allegedly omitting 29 pages covering the Panbari corridor.
Gogoi further claimed that the incomplete notification remained on the government portal for four years without correction and was removed after the issue attracted public attention.
“This coincides with reports of rare earth element deposits in the same belt,” Gogoi said, seeking transparency from the state government.
He sought an explanation for why the incomplete notification was uploaded, why it allegedly remained unrectified for four years and why it was removed after the issue came to light.
Gogoi also questioned the delay in notifying nine crucial animal corridors around the Kaziranga landscape, saying the Supreme Court-constituted Central Empowered Committee had sought action on the corridors for years.
Calling the matter “not an isolated lapse”, Gogoi alleged that the state government had signed MoUs for luxury hotels near the national park while remaining indifferent to illegal mining. He also criticised the government over the arrest of an activist who, he said, had raised questions about the issue.
The allegations came amid scrutiny over conservation, wildlife corridors, mining and tourism-related development around the Kaziranga landscape.
