No community should lay sole claim on Moreh : My Manipur
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, November 02 2023:
Reacting to objections against deployment of State forces in Moreh by tribal bodies, My Manipur, a voluntary organisation has stated that Moreh town and the surrounding areas which come under the Yangoupokpi Lokchao Reserved Forest do not belong to any particular community in Manipur.
A statement issued by Bedajeet H, spokesperson, My Manipur, said that Moreh town comes under the Yangoupokpi Wild Life Sanctuary and thus it is the bounden duty of the Manipur State Government to conserve and protect the area by exercising its powers and deployment of any law enforcement agencies as required and necessary.
Moreover, the Manipur State Government already has full and complete authority to deploy its forces at any location within the territorial jurisdiction of the entire State of Manipur, it added.
The Yangoupokpi Lokchao Forest was declared as a Reserved Forest in 1946 by the Manipur State Darbar and later declared as a wildlife sanctuary by the State Forest Department in 1989, notably, before the creation of Tengnoupal district in 2016, as per the statement.
Therefore, Moreh town and the surrounding areas which come under the Yangoupokpi Lokchao Reserved Forest do not belong to any particular community in Manipur.
No community, CSOs, village chiefs, groups or bodies have the right to claim it as theirs and have no authority over it, asserted the statement from My Manipur.
Setting the record straight, My Manipur appealed to all organisations involved in distortion of history and facts not to advance their own interests and stop such manipulation.