Watch Gold Rush — A Struggle for Kaziranga : Valley Vision

In September 2023, the Chief Minister of Assam announced that an international hotel chain, the Hyatt group, would be opening its first 5-star hotel in Assam right on this plot of land. Despite outcry from the people, activists and conservationists, the plans were already in motion, as the government attempted to take over the land (more than 10 acres presently) from the 46 families of peasants back in 2022.

What has ensued and covered in the film is a chronicle of the people’s protest over their likely displacement from their homestead to make way for not one, but a series of upcoming 5-star sprawling luxury hotels – the Hyatt, as well as the Taj hotel, in one of India’s most ecologically sensitive, militarized and vulnerable conservation spaces.

This film takes a deep dive into the conservation landscape of Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR), a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been going through a rapid transformation and attempts to address the concerns raised by the historically marginalised community of Adivasi tea plantation workers.

The community had been cultivating here in the Kohora region of Kaziranga for generations, and paying their taxes on a plot of land right on the periphery of the National Park.

In the film, this emerges as the ongoing trend within Kaziranga, a land grab and takeover by powerful players that is set to alter the landscape of the Kaziranga region completely. As the crux of the issue is slowly gaining more and more national attention, the film delves into how massive walls and boundaries are now replacing the historical co-existence of these communities with forests and animals, the trend of grabbing large tracts of land for big commercial ventures, issues of livelihood, vulnerability of the people and animals, and the question of the legality of these rapid transfers of lands.

Is private interest so easily prioritised over the well-being and protection of the people and environment? Will this be yet another tale and example of the rich and powerful locking their jaws onto this fertile landscape at the cost of people’s livelihood and biodiversity? As the people’s movement yet persists, the film seeks the answers to these questions that will decide the future and fate of Kaziranga in the years to come.