Jorhat, July 30: Anil Agarwal-promoted Vedanta Ltd wants to use 4.4998 hectares of reserved forest land for oil and gas exploration drilling in the notified eco-sensitive zone of the Hoollongapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary where elephants, hoolock gibbons and leopards are present.

The forest advisory committee (FAC) of the ministry has deferred its decision, according to minutes of its meeting dated July 4.

Vedanta Ltd has mentioned that in case a commercially viable discovery of hydrocarbons is obtained, commercial production will be carried out and hydrocarbon will be transferred through pipeline or tanker.

Divisional Forest Officer Jorhat has mentioned in the report that Elephants, Hoolock gibbons, and Leopards are present in the area. Further, it is mentioned that the project is in a relatively small area and no major construction is anticipated. “Hence the impact will be minimal and if necessary, a wildlife management and mitigation plan shall be prepared and all precautions shall be taken to cause minimal disturbance to the wildlife and to mitigate man-animal conflict.

Seventeen trees are to be felled.

The approach road is an active area for wildlife especially wild elephant herds, the minutes of the meeting mention.

“The terrain of the proposed area is hilly and the impact in the region due to the removal of trees will disturb its ecological balance, however, this can be reduced by stringently complying towards the prescribed rules and guidelines and also by taking necessary precautionary stabilization measures to avoid landslide,” the minutes of the meeting says.

The consent of the National Board for Wildlife is to be obtained before the final approval as the proposed area is located in the eco-sensitive zone of Hollongar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary.

The hoolock gibbon is a canopy dweller. Their movement is restricted if their habitat is fragmented.

According to experts, the gibbon is a canopy dweller, and any break, however small, in the existing canopy in its habitat could be a risk.

“It will adversely affect hoolock gibbons because they live in the canopy. Its population is tiny in Assam and if such projects come up then their habitat will be affected,” said environmentalist Devojit Moran.

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