Achievements of Manipur Forest Department during 2012-2013
- Part 3 -

A.K. Rana *

Disposal of Wildlife article by burning

8. Control of other illegal activities and implementation of Supreme Court order: Besides wildlife related crimes, the department is taking up steps to control other illegal activities. A few worth mentioning are:

a) Checking of illegal transportation of forest produce(Red sanders): This timber, which has its origins generally from Andhra Pradesh, is smuggled all the way to Myanmar through the border town of Moreh. Vigilant Checking by personnel of the Assam Rifles, Narcotics cell, Customs, Staffs and personnel of the department, to name a few has resulted in the seizure of 54,422 kgs. and 578 logs during the year.

b. Checking of Saw mills: In compliance of the orders of the Hon'ble Supreme court of India, checking of saw mills have been carrying out on a war footing. All saw mills operating in the state are checked regularly for any illegal timber resulting in the seizure of 205.264 cum of timber.

c. Control of encroachment: Encroachment of forest areas is one of the major problems plaguing all Forest Departments of the country and Manipur is no exception. The GIS lab, along with ground truthing, have managed to identify encroachment areas of RF and PF totalling 7167.33 ha. resulting in the serving of eviction notices to the encroachers wherever necessary.

9 Conservation of Orchids: Orchids from time immemorial has been intertwined with the folklore and culture of the state. To identify and preserve the indigenous orchids, the Department has set up an orchidarium in the year 1 976 covering 50 ha inside the Langol reserve forest. To date the orchidarium can now boast of identifying and preserving around 300 kinds of orchids collected from all over the state. With a view to sensitizing and imparting knowledge about orchids, the orchidarium has been opened to the public, the rates of entry of which are:

New Ticketing booth at Khongampat Orchidarium

10. Use of latest technology and new innovations for Forest Management: Forest Department is one of the few technical departments in the state to have a dedicated GIS lab of its own. The lab has helped in maximizing the efficiency of map making and planning of projects and schemes of the department. A few of the achievements of this lab are:

a. Digitalization of affected forest areas by proposed railway line from Jiribam to Imphal.

b. Digitalization of affected forest areas by power grid corp. of India from Jiribam to Imphal.

c. Digitisation of affected forest areas by proposed water supply line from Thoubal dam to Chingkheiching.

d. Training in ERDAS Apollo software, a web based GIS program with resource persons from Zymax Technology, Kolkota.



To be continued....