Haughty department officials, vanishing forest cover
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: April 05, 2023 -
AT a time when destruction caused to protected forests and eviction of en-croachers from reserved forest areas generated intense debate and portrayed the forest department as a sapless entity, it is ironical that the department officials have been accused of acting haughtily and harassing transport operators bringing in sand from neighbouring Nagaland.
The charges levelled against the forest department also assume significance at the juncture as failure to increase the area of state's forest is being attributed to inefficiency of the department to fulfil its basic obligation, which is to at-least ensure preservation of the existing forests.
A recent report of the India State of Forest Report (ISFR) revealed reduction of 492 square kilometres of forest cover in nine hill districts of Manipur from the year 2011 to 2021.
As per the ISFR-2011 data, total forest cover in the nine districts was 17,090 sq km but it shrunk to 16,598 sq km by 2021 thereby showing depletion of 492 sq km.
As announced to the media on Monday, members of Manipur Drivers' Association (MDA), Senapati District Truck Owners' Association (SDTOA), All Manipur Corkha Drivers' & Owners' Association (AMCDOA) and Senapati District Truck Drivers' Union (SDTDU) alleged exploitation by officials posted at forest check gates in Manipur sector of the Imphal-Dimapur road.
While genuineness of the transporters' allegation could be confirmed only when department concerned initiates enquiry, if any, it is unlikely that the transport operators would level such a serious allegation without substantial evidence and especially as their struggle for bread and butter would definitely entail passing through the check gates on a daily basis.
Moreover, the transporters' resolve to directly apprise chief minister N Biren and forest minister Th Biswajit on procedural lapses on the part of those deployed at the forest check gates.
The transporters' complaints about presence of unauthorised check posts along the national highways and issuance of informal transit passes by forest officials also testify that some forest officials see the sand carriers as sources of easy money.
Such un-mandated practice, if any, could abet extortion activities by members of armed outfits as there had been various incidents of truckers being looted and thrashed along the §aid highway.
On behalf of the transporters, SDTOA spokesperson Adari Mao mentioned range forest office in Motbung of detaining a sand laden truck having valid transit pass some days ago with the officerin-charge remaining incommunicado when approached for an explanation.
Amid strong suspicion that inefficiency of the department authorities is one of factors for depletion of the forest cover in the state, the allegation that personnel manning forest check gates are exploiting the sand transporters under the garb of forest tax collection merits at-least a departmental enquiry for it is obvious that the sand consignment are being bought and brought with permission from authorities concerned.
Other than the suspicion that the contraband goods or restricted items might be hidden inside the sand load, there seems to be no valid reason to detain the trucks.
Moreover, if the vehicles are to be checked then the same exercise may be carried out promptly and appropriate action taken against the guilty ones butthose who follow the rules shouldn't be harassed.
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