We sincerely acknowledge Engineers India Ltd. (EIL), for providing us the opportunity to undertake this study under their consultancy offer. We appreciate the support and co-operation of Shri Anil Jain, DGM Environment, Shri B.B. Lal, Senior Manager, Environment and Shri Y. Yagappa, Deputy Manager in facilitating our work.

Authorities of Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemical Ltd. are gratefully acknowledged for their co-operation during the course of this study. We would like to place on record our special gratitude to Shri A.K. Das, Chief Manager, Environment, Shri T.P. Das, Deputy General Manager, Safety & Environmental Engineering Services and Shri R.N. Archarya, Manager, Environment for their unfailing support during the course of our visit to the site.

It would not have been possible for us to accomplish our task without the kind co-operation of Shri D.R. Doley, ACF and Shri Mohan C Chandra, Ranger, Aie Valley Division, Assam State Forest Department, who provided the much needed information on the ecology of the Area.

The support rendered by the members of Nature’s Foster was invaluable. We gratefully acknowledge Shri Nirmal Kanti Dey, President and Shri Arnab Bose, Secretary (Wildlife Protection) Nature’s Foster for accompanying us in the field and for sharing their experience and information about the ecology of the area.

We are grateful to Dr. Ram Prasad, Director Indian Institute of Forest Management (IIFM) for permitting Dr. Yogesh Dubey to complete this assignment with WII after his appointment on the faculty of IIFM.

From the EIA Cell and the Computer Centre of WII, the painstaking efforts of Shri Narinder Singh Bist, Mukesh Kumar Arora and Shri Muthu Veerappan made it possible for us to adhere to the deadline set for the preparation of this report.

Dated: 3rd April, 2001

Place: Dehradun