GUWAHATI:
A woman forester of Assam has received the “Eco Warrior” award for her relentless work for wildlife conservation.
Rinimoni Saikia, forester I, Assam forest Guard School, Makum, Tinsukia, is the only woman forest personnel to receive such a dignified award.
Four others from the state forest department- Kiran Basumatary (stenographer, Manas Tiger Reserve), Bibit Dehingia (ranger officer, Western Range, Kaziranga National Park), Dinesh Regon (forester II, Kohora Range, Kaziranga National Park) and Manuj Gogoi (tourist guard, Kohora Range, Kaziranga National Park) have been awarded the Eco Warrior” award on the occasion of the 74th Republic day of the country.
The awards were presented by the Governor in a home function organized at Raj Bhawan.
“Rinimoni Saikia, Fr-I, AFGS, Makum (nominated under ‘Eco Warriors’) is honoured to have met and interacted with Governor of Assam at a gala ceremony,” the Assam forest department said in a tweet.
Rinimoni has been working as forester-I at Assam Forest Guards’ School at Makum in Tinsukia district. She was born in Sibsagar, and is the eldest of her four siblings who were raised close to nature. She did her primary schooling staying at her grandparents’ house away from her parents, and completed her high school and college education at Makum.
She joined as a forester-I in the Tinsukia Wildlife Division on December 21, 2009, after which she had to undergo training at Assam Forest School, Jalukbari from January 2010 to April 2010.
During her stint as a forester-I at Tinsukia Wildlife, she faced many challenges that included protecting wildlife in the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park during floods and from poachers.
Apart from her day-to-day patrolling and protection works, she actively contributed in ensuring the proper settlement of the forest villagers of Laika-Dadhiya Forest Village. She also helped in managing tourism and revenue in the National Park.
Rinimoni joined Assam Forest Guards’ School, Makum in June 2014.
In her new role, she took up the mantle of grooming new trainees into caring and compassionate soldiers of the forest cause.
As an assistant instructor, she teaches various subjects such as forest management, human resource management, community forest, biodiversity management, etc.
She takes up the role of a house tutor of the lady trainees and leads them during local educational tours, field visits, etc.
During her days at Tinsukia Wildlife Division, Rinimoni had undergone two pieces of training at Kaziranga National Park held under the aegis of Tiger Trust.
At Assam Forest Guards School, Makum, she took the opportunity to attend two digital pieces of training- one at Aranya Bhawan, Guwahati and the other at Lahowal, Dibrugarh.
Post these pieces of training, she played an active role in helping set up the digital classroom and digital library at Assam Forest Guards’ School, Makum.
She learnt the use of many new technical instruments which she could teach the lower staff as well as the trainees.
Rinimoni is a forester who is loved by all their co-workers due to her positive and proactive attitude. Despite being a lady forester, she performs her field duties equally with her male counterparts.
A mother of two children including an infant, she manages her personal and professional commitments with grace. She has helped the cause of environmental conservation by engaging with school students and the local people of the area in many awareness campaigns.