Reopening of Manas postponed Correspondent BARPETA, Nov 1 – The reopening of the World Heritage Site in Danger, Manas National Park-cum-Tiger Project scheduled for today have been postponed and rescheduled that too tentatively on November 6. “It has been postponed due to some unavoidable circumstances and we have tentatively fixed November 6 next as the day for reopening”, Aninda Swargiary, director of the park told this correspondent.
When asked about the cause of the failure to open it today as announced earlier, Swargiary said that some of the preparations vital for opening it to the visitors could not be completed. Though he did not blame the financial position in this regard, Swargiary informed that neither the BTAD nor the Government of Assam has sanctioned required fund for the park. As a result development activities undertaken have to be kept in abeyance.
Without specifying anything, Swargiary lamented that several projects are either lying half-done or abandoned due to financial crunch.
It is worth mentioning here that Manas National Park-cum-Tiger Project was almost deserted during the turbulent period of Bodoland Movement of the late nineties. Even the World Heritage Committee of the UNESCO has named it in the “World Heritage Site in Danger, list since 1992 which enjoyed the status of World Heritage Site since 1985.
After the formation of BTAD, this world famous park in the Baska district of this autonomous body witnessed some reformation. With the flows of funds from several quarters since 2006-2007, a number of infrastructural development projects were undertaken. Even rhinos, once extinct in the park have been rehabilitated and translocated from Pobitora in April 2008.
Delegations from UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee visited the park twice during the last four years for an on-the-spot study of the previling situation in the park. However, as the committee was not satisfied with the progress made so far refused to withdraw the status of ‘Heritage Site in Danger’.
