Raimona – 6th National Park in Assam 

(The newly announced Raimona National Park is the sixth national park in Assam. A brief introduction about The Raimona National Park)

World Environment Day is celebrated all over the world on June 5th. This year World Environment Day, 2021 was an exception for Assam as Assam and Assamese people received a green gift on that day and the gift was “Raimona National Park”. The Raimona forest was recognized as the sixth national park in Assam on June 5, 2021, the day of World Environment Day. The Raimona National Park has created a huge hope in the surrounding stake as well as the aviation initiative in Assam. Raimona National Park will be considered as an important place for biodiversity storage in Assam.

Raimona – Journey from Forest to National Park –

In the last 2020, a resolution was sent to the Central Government of India to upgrade the Raimona forest to the National Park under the leadership of former Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal during the tenure of Forest Minister Parimal Shuklabaidya and the Central Government recognized the Raimona forest as the sixth national park in Assam. The present Chief Minister of Assam, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sharma officially announced the upgradation of Raimona forest as a National Park on the 5th of June, 2021 at Gandhi Mandap and Srimanta Shankardeva Kalakhetra in Guwahati.

The geographical location of Raimona National Park –

Raimona National Park is based at Kachugaon in Kokrajhar district under BTR on the very western border of Assam. The total land area of Raimona National Park is 422 sq km. The 6th National Park in Assam and the 105th National Park in India consist of the northern part of Ripu reserve forest in Kokrajhar and the Kachu reserve forest in the Gosaigaon sub-division. It may be mentioned that this Kachugaon reserve forest is the second largest forest in entire Asia. Raimona National Park is an important part of Manas Biosphere and Sirang-Ripu Elephant Forest. It is also an important part of the Manah Tiger Project. The Raimona National Park is attached to the Phibsoo Wildlife Sanctuary in Bhutan and Jigme Singye Wangchuck National Park of Bhutan.

The boundary of Raimona National Park –

On the East side of Raimona National Park the Saralbhanga river and Manah National Park attached to it. On the west side is the Sonkosh river and the Assam-Bengal border. On the north side is the Indo-Bhutan border. On the south side is the Pekua river and Kokrajhar town at a nearby distance.

Biodiversity of raimona National Park –

The main attraction of the Raimona National Park is Golden Langur, which is the Mascot of BTR. In addition, other animals found in Raimona are Large Asian Elephants, Bengal Tiger, Snow Leopard, Leopard, Asiatic water Buffalo, Gaur, Deer, various species of monkey etc.

In addition, about 170 species of different birds including rare Hornbills, 150 species of multicolor butterfly, 380 species of different plants and several species of orchids are found in Raimona. The raimona National Park is rich with 11 different types of Forest and its sub-varieties of biodiversity. From this aspect, it can be said that this new national park- Raimona will attract various domestic and foreign tourist.

Ramona among the national parks in India –

1.23 percent of India’s total land area (about 40501.13 sq km) is covered by 104 national parks in India (National Wildlife database; May, 2019) and about 5% of the land is in the reserve forest. The newly recognized Raimona National Park will cover a large part of it. The Raimona National Park will form a large wildlife corridor, covering a total of six protected areas from Manah National Park to the Chirang-Ripu Protected Area, including Bhutan’s wildlife sanctuary and National Park.

Since 1989, nearly 30 percent of the area in the raimona Reserve Forest (now under BTR) was almost uprooted and liberated by cutting down forests to keep it under control for disturbed conditions, encroachments and other reasons in the Bodoland. But the current healthy environment and the newly recognized national park have brought a piece of promising news to its locals as well as the people of Assam.

Naturalists believe that animals living in this large forest area of both India and Bhutan will have a huge impact on biodiversity. The Raimona is home of the Golden Langur (Gee’s Golden Langur) currently recognized as endangered species by IUCN. So, the new national park, Raimona will play a special role in the protection of golden langur.

Tourism in raimona National Park-

The place where Raimona National Park is based is full of natural beauty. The beauty of this place has to be written in combination with mountains, dense forests etc. This natural beauty of raimona National Park will attract various domestic and foreign tourists. The endangered golden langur in Ramona as well as various species of tigers, birds, gaur, wild buffalo, hornbills etc. will be the main attraction of tourists. Foreign tourists visiting various tourist spots in Bhutan located next to it will be attracted to visit the newly constructed national park if they are aware of it.

Raimona has also set up a new door to the tourism industry of Assam. The government of Assam has to take up new well-planned schemes and innovative strategies of propaganda and new technological and advanced transport structures in the Raimona National Park to develop it as a tourist spot. The financial condition of the people living in its surrounding areas will also gradually move to a transparent state if the Raimona National Park expands into a tourist spot. 

The Raimona National Park, a hotspot of various plants and fauna, has instilled hope in the field of forest and wildlife protection among the people of Assam and the people of India. It will make a huge contribution to the environmental protection and development of the tourism industry of Assam. A new chapter in forest and wildlife protection has been created in an area of 422 square kilometers covered by Raimona National Park. The sixth national park in Assam announced on World Environment Day,2021, Raimona will get a special identity in the world in case of the protection of Golden Langur. Just as the world knows Kaziranga, the first national park in Assam, for One Horned Rhinoceros, People will know the sixth National Park of Assam, Raimona for its Golden Langur.