Gaurav Gogoi reported the removal of Kaziranga animal corridors gazette notification from Assam official website
Herd of wild elephants seen in Kaziranga National Park. File. | Photo credit: ANI
AssamCongress President and MP Gaurav Gogoi on Monday (September 7, 2026) questioned why the Assam government had removed the allegedly incomplete gazette notification 2022 of Kaziranga National Park animal corridors from its official website.
In the post, X said that the Panbari Wildlife Corridor was missing from the version of the notification published on the government portal (Department of Environment, Forests and Climate Change).
“The full notification on the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve website covers pages 1,328 to 1,455. The version published on the state portal stopped at page 1,426 and omitted 29 pages covering the Panbari corridor. This tallies with reports of rare earth element deposits in the same belt,” Mr Gogoi said.
“It must be completely transparent why an incomplete notification was uploaded on the government portal and remained uncorrected for four years and why it was withdrawn the moment it was pointed out. The Assam government should also be held accountable for the delay in notifying nine key animal corridors,” he said.
The State Congress President pointed out that the Central Empowered Committee set up by the Supreme Court has been seeking action in all the nine corridors for years.
“This is not an isolated malpractice. The government is signing MoUs for luxury hotels next to the park, turning a blind eye to illegal mining and arresting an activist who dares to be critical,” Mr Gogoi said, referring to the detention of land rights activist Pranab Doley under the National Security Act for opposing a luxury hotel project by indigenous farmers in Kazan’s rice fields.
Park-hill connection
The gazette notification 2022 identified nine wildlife corridors connecting the rhino-dominated Kaziranga National Park with the hills of Karbi Anglong district. Crucially, the hills provide refuge for the animals whenever the park is flooded.
The gazette notification issued on April 1, 2022 followed the recommendations of a government-appointed committee. The panel, which was set up on 4 May 2019 to identify and delineate animal corridors between Kaziranga and Karbi Anglong, submitted its report on 28 August 2019.
The nine corridors identified are Amguri, Bagori, Chirang, Deosur, Haldhibari, Harmati, Hatidandi, Kanchanjuri and Panbari.
The opening section of the announcement covered all nine corridors, but the version made available online included detailed descriptions and maps of eight. Panbari was missing.
The omission was conspicuous as the Panbari corridor passes through the Methoni Tea Estate, which RCP Solutions and Services Pvt Ltd acquired from Kolkata-based The Methoni Tea Company Ltd in 2022, the year of the gazetted notice in question.
Assam regulatory records show that RCP Solutions and Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, is associated with Methoni Tea Estate since 2022.
The Congress, local organizations and green activists also sensed a link between the omission of Panbari in the gazette notification and reports of deposits of rare earth elements in the Panbari-Geleki area of Karbi Anglong. This area is located near the Kaziranga National Park.
An official response was awaited on the allegations regarding the gazette notification of Kaziranga’s animal corridors.
Published – 8 Sep 2026 12:31 PM IST