Suspected NDFB-Songbijit militants have snatched seven Insas rifles with ammunition from the Eco-Task Force personnel of the Territorial Army in a forest in Kokrajhar district in Assam along the Indo-Bhutan border.
A group of National Democratic Front of Bodoland-S extremists waylaid personnel of the Kokrajhar-based ETF yesterday and also took away 21 magazines and 420 rounds of live ammunition from the ETF personnel who had gone to the forest at Saralbhanga area with plant saplings as part of an aforestation programme there, the official sources said today.
No harm was caused to the ETF personnel.
The Task Force has for the last seven years been working under the state Forest Department to plant lakhs of trees to restore the eco balance in the denuded forest belt between Bhutan and Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) where Kokrajhar district is located.
The ETF plants almost nine lakh saplings every year and have so far planted more than four million trees in Assam, they said.
Eco-Task Forces have been raised in several states following approval granted by the Central Government with the Ministry of Environment and Forests encouraging the Territorial Army Directorate to undertake eco-restoration of about 500 hectares per year per ETF battalion, the sources said.
The Force largely comprising of locals has won the Indra Paryavan Puraskar for its efforts in maintaining the forest and environment in the Bodo inhabited areas of Assam, they added.
