Jorjo Tana Tara — Lone Ranger in the Fight for Arunachal’s Forests
In remote Northeast India, Arunachal Pradesh, Jorjo Tana Tara is known as an anti-logging activist. What has ensued is an almost lone battle with the timber mafia and NDFB militants against the illegal culling of trees in and around the Pakke Tiger Reserve forest area in Seijosa, a village bordering between Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, amongst the dense forest and hilly terrain.
Jorjo Tana Tara was deeply unsettled when his young son asked him several years ago about their place in society, their dues to their community, and what role the family could play in the upliftment of the people. He had come from nothing, with the family working hard to manage and get by in the rough topography of the region with very little connectivity. Jorjo says he travelled a great distance to go to school along with his siblings. Their persistence was rewarded as he and others of his family acquired jobs and careers of notable distinction and made a decent living for themselves. When his son later asked him what next, what more could be done to give back, he almost immediately turned his sights to the conservation and protection of the verdant forest he grew up admiring.
The dense forest of Pakke-Kesang district of Arunachal Pradesh has been a hotbed for militant activities during the past few decades of political unrest in the region. It was only a step further to utilise the vast natural assets of the forest and sell illegal timber for high profits and smuggle it through the porous borders to other states of the region.
This is where Jorjo Tana stepped in, since 2011. Taking a great personal risk and expecting nothing in return, Jorjo started to collect evidence against illegal logging by visiting the sites himself to catch them in action, armed with his 12-bore rifle and a video camera.
“There have been several physical assaults on me, and some of my volunteers, and I have been shot at at least 4 times, once with a bullet just nearly missing my temple. It shakes me to my core to think of that time”, says Jorjo as he recalls a terrifying midnight ordeal at one such site, where, inside the forest, he saw trucks being loaded with illegal timber, men at work to smuggle the trucks through lesser known paths out of the region. But this is now a regular day for him, and he since thinks twice about asking anyone to join his mission because he is deeply aware of the life-threatening dangers that ensue.
Since 2011, he has been collecting evidence against the timber mafia and the alleged NDFB militants of the area who are involved in the business. In parallel to this action-packed daily life, he has been fighting a fierce legal battle with an ongoing PIL filed with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in 2015 (Jorjo Tana Tara Vs Union of India & Others), against the large-scale felling of trees in Arunachal Pradesh. The NGT directed the State to identify the hotspots and draw an action plan to combat the problem. Jorjo himself states that the issue is far more complicated than meets the eye. He alleges the involvement of the militant outfits, the bureaucracy, forest department officials and politicians, abetting the illegal timber trade and facilitating the trafficking. This makes his lone battle all the more noteworthy and precarious. But there are wins.
The proposed East-West Industrial Corridor project that would have built a highway through the core forest zones of Pakke and Nameri forest reserve came under flak after Jorjo Tana Tara drew light to the matter after receiving information under the Right to Information Act from the reserve’s divisional forest officer.
- Tara said the project will hurt local people on various counts. “The main purpose of the highway is to transport heavy machinery for hydropower projects. Arunachal Pradesh falls under a very high seismic hazard zone and local people downstream will lose everything if there is a disaster. The project will risk the tiger population in Pakke and bordering Nameri.” (Hindustan Times, 26 Feb, 2020).
- The Arunachal Pradesh government on Monday decided to “keep in abeyance” the survey work for a road through the Pakke Tiger Reserve. Seijosa-based environment activist Tana Jorjo Tara had through a Right to Information (RTI) petition raised the alarm over the proposed road through PTR. The Hindu had reported the development in February.(The Hindu, 16 March, 2020).
Jorjo’s consistent battle has endeared him further in the hearts of the community members of Seijosa. People recognise his lone figure, cruising the rough roads on his motorcycle, his rifle at his back, not afraid to venture daily into the dangers of the forest range so sharply targeted on him as he mounts his stack of evidence against the illegal activities. He says, “I am prepared to die, but I will not go down without a fight. Let the mafia know that Jorjo Tana Tara was there to block their path. I will create an example to live by, and possibly die by.” And so he carries his guns, the court papers, the evidence, the battle and the danger with him wherever he goes.
Jorjo Tana Tara was the recipient of the Naturenomics™ Award at the 8th Balipara Foundation Recognition Awards last year. Learn more about his story in this documentary film, produced for the Balipara Foundation by Ruella Rahman Khound. Watch his message to the community on the Balipara Foundation’s YouTube channel.
Explore other winners of the Balipara Foundation Recognition Awards 2020.
