JFMC doubts Govt's resolve to protect reserved forest
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, November 07 2022:
Joint Forest Management Committee (JFMC), Top Awang Leikai has alleged that the government is turning a blind eye to the construction works being taken up in Tinsid Chingol area under Chingkhei Ching reserved forest area by some powerful people and demanded clarification from the government if the authority had taken up any action against the illegal construction.
In a statement, JFMC informed that a mega construction work began in the area about a month ago.
The committee raised a complaint to the Central DFO to which the DFO and his subordinate officials assured of bringing up the matter to the attention of the chief minister and the forest minister.
However, the officials have failed to take up any action till date except for pasting a show cause notice at the workshed on October 26 .
Interestingly, the show cause notice does not have any name or information as to whom the notice was being served.
The committee informed that the construction site used to be a nursery farm of the forest department.
After the nursery farm was shut down, encroachers took over the land and the department did nothing to evict them.
The government conducted an eviction drive on March 2, 2018 in the encroached area of Wakha Awa Ching Reserved Forest On the southern end of Tinsid Chingol.
However, the eviction drive was stopped the next day, the statement said, while questioning if the government is biased in enforcing its policies to protect reserved forest areas of the state.
The committee further said that eviction drive of the government would be meaningless if the government cannot take up action against the officials involved in converting reserved forest land into revenue land and issuing land holding documents.
It further demanded the government to clarify if the authority had taken up any action against the encroachers.