Guwahati, January 24: Raimona National Park, the youngest one among the six national parks in Assam, has been gifted 10 modern wireless communication devices by Aaranyak (www.aaranyak.org), premier organisation dedicated to research-based conservation of biodiversity. These high-end Motorola devices were procured with the generous support from the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, an UK based non-profit that has been aiding Aaranyak in its conservation projects for decades.

There were over 40 people present in the function held on Monday for handing over of communication devices including forest officials and representatives from Aaranyak.  The devices were provided to four range officers of the national park- Pranjal Talukdar from the Central Range, Biswajeet Basumatary from the Sanfan Range, Kangkan Jyoti Kaushik from the Athiabari Range and Anupam Das from the Western Range.

The programme was held at the Central Range IB, Kachugaon Division of the national park in presence of the Divisional Forest Officer, Bhanu Sinha who inaugurated the event. He said the communication devices would greatly assist the national park's conservation efforts.

The DFO lauded Aaranyak’s sustained and significant support towards complementing efforts of the Forest authorities in conservation of wildlife in Assam and other parts of the region and the country.

The event was coordinated by Dr Dipankar Lahkar, a senior conservationist in Aaranyak with assistance from another conservationist of Aaranyak Binita Baruwati.

In the previous year as well, Aaranyak presented four motorcycles to four ranges of Raimona National Park in an effort to facilitate the movement of frontline forest staff in the newly-notified national park where infrastructure and logistics are being augmented.

Dr Bibhab Kumar Talukdar, Secretary General and CEO of Aaranyak said “Raimona is a new National Park with immense potential to contribute towards wildlife conservation in western Assam bordering Bhutan. Realising the need to strengthen wireless communication networks, Aaranyak in association with the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation is happy to offer the needed support to Kachugaon Forest Division.”

A Royal Bengal Tiger was photo-captured through a camera trap at Raimona National Park on January 25 last year, the first evidence of tiger presence at the park since it was declared a national park by the Assam Government. Using camera traps, Aaranyak and the Forest Department have conducted population estimation in the park under the All-India Tiger Monitoring Programme (AITMP).

Raimona National Park is an excellent wildlife habitat and harbours threatened species like- royal Bengal tiger, Asian elephant, Golden Langur, Chinese Pangolin, Dhole, and Small cats. Besides this, the park is also home to butterflies, birds, and orchids.

Within the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR), across the Bhutanese border, lies this National Park in Assam's Gossaingaon region. It was proclaimed a national park on World Environment Day, June 5, 2021, by the Assam Government.