A forest developed under the leadership of Munmuni Payeng, daughter of the legendary Jadav Payeng, has been partially destroyed after a fire allegedly set by miscreants along the Brahmaputra riverine belt spanning Majuli and Jorhat districts of Assam.

Since 2022, Munmuni Payeng has been leading a 70-member team engaged in large-scale afforestation on riverine sandbars, locally known as char–chapori. The initiative resulted in the creation of a forest named Molai Kathoni 2.0, envisioned as an extension of her father’s globally acclaimed conservation work.

According to local sources, a substantial portion of the forest was recently engulfed by flames, triggering panic in nearby areas. Residents rushed to the site in an attempt to control the fire, but by the time it was brought under control, significant damage had already been done to the plantation.

Serious concerns have now been raised over the cause of the fire. Allegations suggest a possible link to ongoing and proposed sand mining activities in the vicinity, with reports indicating that permission for sand extraction has been granted near the forest area. Munmuni Payeng warned that such activities could accelerate erosion by the Brahmaputra River, posing a grave threat not only to Molai Kathoni 2.0 but also to the original Molai Kathoni forest created by her father.

Expressing deep anguish over the incident, Munmuni Payeng stated that their work has always been dedicated to protecting nature, restoring degraded land, and contributing to climate balance. She alleged that resistance to sand mining—voiced repeatedly by her father—may have provoked hostility leading to the act.

The afforestation effort has been carried out with the support of Sustainable Green Initiation and Climate Justice People. Since 2022, the team has worked across nearly 1,300 hectares, planting indigenous saplings and dispersing native seeds to stabilise the fragile riverine ecosystem.

By 2024, the initiative had crossed a major milestone, with more than one million plants successfully planted—making the recent destruction not just an environmental loss, but a serious setback to years of community-led conservation efforts.

The incident has renewed calls from environmentalists and local communities for stronger protection of riverine forests and stricter oversight of extractive activities along the Brahmaputra, one of India’s most ecologically sensitive river systems.