Jatindra Saikia
GOLAGHAT, Feb 13: Once the inhabitants of Natundanga Village located close to the Burapahar range of Kaziranga National Park were boycotted by the other nearby villages.
Reason was simple; the inhabitants were accused of sheltering and assisting the rhino poachers from various parts of the north-eastern region.
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However, the simple people of the Karbi tribe of Natundanga village knew little that the activities were criminal offences. But they had no way out as they were involved in such activities for their livelihood. Moreover, no developmental works of the government reached them. Therefore, the youth, particularly, were engaged in illegal activities with poachers like showing entry and exit routes of the jungles and offering them shelter to hide from police for meager money.
Having suffered from such social shame and separation from the neighboring villages for many years, some conscious youth of the Natundanga village led by Mangal Singh Teron determined to change their fate. They were ready to stop such activities and started patrolling their village at night.
In 2008, the forest department of the Burapahar range got to know the valiant attempts of Mangal Singh Teron and his friends to ward off poachers which led the department came forward to assist them.
The department asked them to spread out awareness programmes among the villagers and at the same time initiated some developmental works like construction of roads and other basic amenities. The forest department also helped them to start an Eco-Development Committee in 2010.The committee guided and inspired by the then Range Officer Ikramul Mazid established a Karbi ethnic food center-“Choran Ahem “(House of food) in the same year to provide the Karbi ethnic food to tourist to generate earning and employment for the dwellers.
Still, it was not a cup of tea for Mangal Singh Teron, president of the development committee, to run the Centre with 25 members smoothly. During this struggling phase, a Nagaon based travel agency—“Grand Eastern Holiday”,WWF and mainly the then Kaliabor SDO Bitupon Neog played a major role for its revival. He, as a beacon of hope, came up with all possible help to Mangal Singh Teron and the centre. He even became involved in for its massive publicity. As a result, many national and international tourists including cricketer Kevin Peterson, French ambassador Emanuel Lenine paid a visit to this ethnic food center and praised its food and surrounding.
Currently, Mangal Singh Teron and his friends –Joy Singh, Rohit, Bina, Ayesha, Basapi are joyful because they are successful to remove the blame that overshadowed the village once as the poaching village. “Choran Ahem, the eco-tourism hotspot now, has become their new identity of pride and dignity. Almost all the people of Natundanga Village, directly or indirectly, earn their livelihood as more than 30 foreign tourists apart from thousands of domestic tourists and govt officials visited last year,” Teron told The Hills Times.
