Posers raised on illegal earth extraction in Heingang RF
Source: Chronicle News Service

Imphal, June 15 2025: Safe Environment Campaign Committee (SECC), Heingang Makha Leikai has accused the Forest Department of abetting unauthorised soil extraction in various areas of Heingang Reserve Forest (RF) .

In a release, SECC chairman Mutum Inaobi Singh expressed remorse that condition of reserve forests in the valley areas, namely, Heingang RF, Chingkhei hill RF, Nongmaiching RF has been deteriorating due to unrestrained soil extraction for construction of roads and strengthening embankments of rivers.

Posers raised on illegal earth extraction in Heingang RF

The chairman contended that under the garb of emergency repairing of roads and river banks damaged due to occurrence of floods in the past few years, politicians and contractors had been extracting earth from nearby hills, including in RFs, and selling the same in-spite of the extraction carried out without any payment.

Claiming that such practices had been ongoing for past many years, SECC pointed out that illegal extraction earth is depriving the state exchequer of crores of rupees in revenues and causing harm to the environment.

To protect the environment, the Committee filed a PIL in the High Court of Manipur in 2017 following which the Court passed a decree in July 25, 2018 banning illegal soil, sand and stone mining in the state.

However, the state government has taken no action against illegal miners, who continue to indulge in such illegal activities, it said.

Noting that the site of unauthorised earth extraction in Heingang RF is barely 6 km from Forest Department head office at Sanjenthong, SECC questioned purpose of the Department's existence and receiving'substantial budgetary allocation if it cannot address unauthorised earth extraction from reserved forests and continuous deforestation in the hills for poppy cultivation.