This Christmas, 19 families of Ram Terang, a remote forest village in the state’s Karbi Anglong district around 300 km from Guwahati, will get an unusual gift.
The 19 Christian families will not only celebrate Christmas in a new location, away from their original settlement of Ram Terang, they will ring in the festivities in newly-constructed concrete houses.
In a big boost to elephant conservation in Assam, the villagers agreed to move out of their homes in Ram Terang and shift three kilometers away to a new location, aptly named New Ram Terang.
The relocation and rehabilitation of the villagers is part of an exercise undertaken by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council (KAAC), with the support of the UK’s Elephant Family, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Japan Tiger and Elephant (JTEF), to secure the Kalapahar-Daigrong elephant corridor that passes right through the hamlet of Ram Terang.
This corridor is frequently used by elephants to move to Kaziranga National Park, a World Heritage Site, and even to Intaki in Nagaland.
In July this year, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla, hosted a fundraiser in London to help secure elephant corridors in the northeast and elsewhere in the country. Five conservation organizations — Elephant Family, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), IUCN, World Land Trust and WTI — signed an MoU to raise £20 million to secure 100 elephant corridors in the country, including in the northeast.
The relocation of Ram Terang villagers is the first such voluntary movement of people for elephant conservation in the northeast.
“We are eagerly awaiting Christmas because this will be a new kind of festival for us,” said the village head of Ram Terang who formally received keys of the 19 new houses at a function here on Wednesday.
As a result of the village’s location on the elephant corridor, frequent damage to crops and houses by the passing animals was common, he said. “The place where New Ram Terang is located is free from human-elephant conflict. We have also got plots of land to cultivate,” he added.
Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, a close friend of the late conservationist Mark Shand who founded Elephant Family, inaugurated the New Ram Terang village on Wednesday. Executive member of KAAC Pradip Singnar, former chief executive member of KAAC Joyram Engleng, chief conservator of forest Abhijit Rabha, WTI CEO Vivek Menon, WTI adviser Jagdish Kiswan and Kazi ranga director MK Yadav were among those who were present at the function.
“I thank you (villagers) for all for the support you have shown. You should come up with new ideas for the cause of conservation,” Rothschild, the founder patron of Elephant Family, said.
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