In a devastating blow to environmental conservation efforts, a newly cultivated forest known as Molai Kathoni 2.0 was deliberately set on fire this Sunday. The green cover, painstakingly created by renowned "Forest Man of India" Jadav Payeng and his 21-year-old daughter, Munmuni Payeng, on a sandbar of the Brahmaputra river in Assam's Majuli district, suffered extensive damage in the blaze.
A Race Against Time to Control the Flames
The fire broke out on the barren sandbar that had been under development since 2022. Munmuni Payeng received information about the incident around 11:30 am. She immediately mobilized a team of around ten people, including her brothers, nephews, young friends aged between 14 and 21, and two villagers. They rushed to the site, reaching it in approximately 40 minutes.
Armed with only tree leaves and machetes, the group embarked on a frantic three-hour battle against the flames. They cut surrounding bushes to create fire lines and beat down the fire with their basic tools. "We finally managed to control the fire at around 2:15 pm," Munmuni recounted, highlighting the sheer determination of the young volunteers in the absence of immediate official help.
Extensive Ecological Damage and Official Apathy
The aftermath of the fire revealed a scene of significant loss. The plantation, which had begun attracting birds and small wildlife, was severely scorched. Several bird nests were destroyed, and while footprints of deer were visible on the charred ground, no carcasses were found initially.
"It is a very sad day for us. The forest suffered a massive loss, affecting the trees, birds, and insects," expressed a disheartened Munmuni. She revealed that Assam's Forest Minister, Chandra Mohan Patowary, called her while she was still fighting the fire to express concern. However, in a telling sign of administrative gaps, no forest official or staff from either Majuli or Jorhat had visited the site even 24 hours after the incident.
Targeting a Legacy of Conservation
The Molai Kathoni 2.0 project is an extension of the legendary work of Jadav Payeng, the 66-year-old Padma Shri awardee from the indigenous Mising tribe. Payeng dedicated over three decades to single-handedly transforming a barren sandbar into the original 1,360-acre Molai forest, now home to rhinos, tigers, elephants, and deer.
His journey, which began in the 1970s with planting bamboo on wasteland, earned him the Padma Shri in 2015 and international acclaim. However, the very biodiversity of these man-made forests has increasingly attracted threats from timber smugglers, poachers, and encroachers. Despite periodic joint patrols by police and forest departments, this act of arson exposes critical vulnerabilities in the protection mechanisms for these vital ecosystems.
The attack on Molai Kathoni 2.0 is not just an act of vandalism but a direct assault on a grassroots conservation model that has inspired the world. It underscores the urgent need for more robust and permanent security measures to safeguard such environmental treasures for future generations.
