GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday said he would write to the Maharashtra government over "erroneous" description of 'Forest Man of India' Jadav Payeng, who is from Assam, in school text books of the western state.
Payeng, a forest department worker of Assam, planted and tendered trees on a sandbar of the Brahmaputra river turning it into a forest over the years.
An environment text book of Maharashtra State Board of Secondary Education reportedly "wrongly" mentioned Payeng, who was awarded Padma Shri in 2015, as a member of a nomadic tribe.
Meeting a delegation of the ethnic Mising community, the chief minister assured them that he would write to the Maharashtra government to register Assam's reservation.
Payeng belongs to the Mising tribe.
The meeting also discussed fund allocation to the Mising Autonomous Council areas.