Govt readies for aerial battle to tackle poppy menace
CM doubts sincerity of forest officials in protecting forest
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, January 14 2023: The state government on Saturday organised 'Emerging Manipur 2023' hosted by Planning Department at City Convention Centre, Palace Compound, here, celebrating various achievements of the state with special focus on winning 'Most Improved Small State Overall' title in India Today Group's annual State of the States Survey 2022.Manipur received the title with its top performances in eight out of 12 parameters - economy, infrastructure, agriculture, health, governance, entrepreneurship, tourism, and cleanliness.

This is the third consecutive year that Manipur secured the top spot among the small states in the country.

Speaking on the occasion, chief minister N Biren expressed serious concern over the extent of deforestation in the hill areas of the state and asked forest officials to be sincere in carrying out their duties and protecting the forest covers.

During a recent survey using drones and helicopters, the government found large scale deforestation and illegal poppy plantations on the far sides of Saikul, Sajik Tampak, Thangjing and Koubru hills.

It is quite disheartening to see the extent of deforestation in these hills, he said.

Since it would be difficult to manually destroy the poppy plants, the government will use drones and helicopters for spraying chemicals to obliterate the poppy plants.

For the purpose, the government has procured three drones and are already here.

Besides, the government is in the process of hiring helicopters at the rate of Rs 1.3 lakh per hour.

After the poppy plants are destroyed, the government will spray tree seeds in those areas by using drones, he said.

As a result of the large-scale deforestation, water retention capacity of the soil in the hills has degraded to a large extent and as such water of Singda Dam and Imphal River will last Only for 10 days.

The situation is same for Chingkhei Ching water reservoir, which uses water from Thoubal dam, as the catchment area of the dam is barren today.

All these conditions lead to one conclusion that forest officials are not sincere enough in carrying out their duties, he said while raising posers for not knowing the situation or not informing the higher authority of the condition in the early stage.

They should take the issue seriously and carry out their duties responsibly.

Protecting the forest cover will solve the issue of inadequacy in many areas in the state, he said while asking forest guards to keep close vigil in reserved forest areas.

Sincerity and dedication in their duty will automatically motivate the public to cooperate, he contended.

Regarding the achievements, Biren said credit for such a feat goes to all the officials, who had worked selflessly with dedication, and the people of the state, who incessantly support the government.

The government is implementing numerous developmental projects for the welfare of the people in various sectors like construction of roads, tourist attraction sites, reforesting of the deforested hills.

Solution to a problem can be achieved through collective and dedicative efforts.

The government faced various challenges when it first started 'Go to Hills' programme.

However, the programme helped in understanding the shortfalls and issues faced by people in remote and interior parts of the state, which further lead to policy formulation for addressing the issues effectively by seeking additional funding from the central government, he said.

The state experiences rainfall for at least Seven months in a year and it contributes to rapid deterioration of metalled roads.

Roads in hill areas are often affected by landslides.

As a solution to this particular issue, the government took up the initiative of introducing concrete road projects, which will last for at least three to four decades.

It will not only solve issues related with road connectivity but also save huge fund, which would otherwise be used in repairing of the roads almost every year.

The fund can be utilised in other sectors then, he added.

Effective healthcare system has always been a challenge in the hill areas of the state.

The government aims to improve health care facilities in the state.

The priority of the BJP 2.0 government is to provide super specialist doctors in every hill district hospital.

Any serious case would be treated at these hospitals, which can perform complicated operations, treat critically ill patients with the help of super specialist doctors.

Tele-ICU Hub has also been inaugurated in order to provide crucial support to accident victims in hill areas, where evacuation to hospitals would take time.

Most of the District Hospitals in the far-flung areas are equipped with this facility, elaborated the CM.

He also maintained that not only in the state, the government is also taking up development works outside the state in order to attract tourists as well as investors to bring economic development here.

Top class Manipur Bhavans are being constructed in Gurgaon and Dwarka.

After their completion, the existing Manipur Bhavan in Delhi will be demolished for a new building, he revealed.

The CM also strongly advised SDOs and SDCs to refrain from issuing land holding documents to the public outside their authority.

Issuing fresh land documents and modification of land documents outside the purview of the law will only affect the innocent public and' the government will not allow such misuse of power by some officials.

He asked the officials to carry out their duty without any fear for any kind of pressure from anybody.

They should understand that a huge portion of violent incidents are related with land.

The CM also launched Manipur Start-Up 2.0 to promote sustainable economic growth and generate large scale employment opportunities in the state.

During the function, Biren honoured the chief secretary, DGP, head of departments, DCs, SPs with citation and gifts.

It may be recalled that the government implemented various welfare schemes, citizen centric initiatives such as Go to Village, Go to Hills, Meeyamgi Numit, Hill Leaders' Day, CMHT, CMST, CM Health for All (CMHA), Sub-Division Development Monitoring Mission, CM Da Haisi and War on Drugs among others.

The government is also implementing Externally Aided Projects (EAP) worth Rs 5712 crore and has another project worth Rs 9141 crore in the pipeline.

Short films on Manipur's Achievements and Tele ICU & CMHA were screened during the function.

Chief secretary Dr Rajesh Kumar and DGP P Doungel made detailed power-point presentations on.

various development projects and law and order improvement in the state while additional chief secretary V Vumlunmang read out the report of India Today.

Cabinet ministers, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), MLAs, senior officers of civil and police departments, DCs and SPs of different districts and other dignitaries also attended the function.

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