Garos must be treated better

Having said that, let's home in on what happened on Saturday revolving around a government forest conservation and eco-tourism project which was regarded by the Garos as posing a threat to their traditional lifestyle. Throwing all caution to the wind, police and forest rangers in Madhupur allegedly opened fire on the protestors apparently in presence of the project contractor and a local BNP leader. In the process, Piren Slan, a Garo youngster was killed and 25 others were injured.

The project plan includes building a wall to ring the Madhupur forest to ward off what some officials said wood theft and land-grabbing. Apparently, it was exclusionary to the Garos or they have had their own perception of what the project might lead up to. Whatever the conceptual problems, since it is an eco-tourism project, it ought to retain, in fact, emphasise natural elements of landscape and other endowments.

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Some Garo people have complained of toll collection by forest employees which needs to be gone into. Basically, the relationship between the forest department or local administration and the Garos seems to have deteriorated over time.

The fences must be mended first before the relationship can be restored to a level where an effective dialogue can take place. And the best way to ensure it would be to probe the firing incident and punish the culprits.

The Garos need to be taken on board insofar as adopting and implementing the project is concerned, so that they turn out to be our willing partners in progress.