Ancient village in Assam's Charaideo district vows to conserve Forest

Guwahati, January 14, 2019:

Villagers in Assam’s Charaideo district have vowed to revive the Chala forest sanctuary area. After timber thieves had felled precious trees in the forest to make quick bucks, villagers of Chala Pathar Shyam village have resolved to protect the trees in the forest as residents celebrated the village’s 150th anniversary.

The community had originally come from Shan State province in Myanmar and settled beside the Disang river. Initially, 12 people had established the village, but the village has grown by leaps and bounds and now, 517 families reside in the village. The people belong to the Buddhist Tai Khamyang community.

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Two Buddhist temples have been established in the area and Pali is the commonly spoken language. The local children are taught at a Pali school in the village.

It is heartening to see that despite the waves of modernization impacting lives in every nook and cranny of the country, the villagers have retained their ancient traditions and culture in food, attire and language.

The village, lost in time, has finally completed 150 years of existence and expressing concerns regarding the depletion of forests, they have vowed to revive the depleted Chala forest reserve as part of their 150th year celebrations. “Oil India, ONGC have released dangerous gases into the atmosphere and the forests are helping us by absorbing these foul gases”, stated a village-elder.

Celebrations also included hoisting of 150 flags as well as a cultural rally to mark the occasion.

The villagers have also assigned Bhadanta Gyanpal Mahathera as the ambassador of the forest reserve. It is to be mentioned that Bhadanta’s efforts had rejuvenated a rainforest area in Jaipur.

The villagers must be lauded for the noble efforts to conserve nature amidst crowing concerns relating to environmental degradation as well as the looming threat of global warming. We should also try to emulate their efforts and try to conserve and preserve Mother Nature is whatever way it is possible.