Manipur forest minister Th Shyamkumar on Tuesday stated in the Assembly that no orders and Act of the Supreme Court have been violated by the department.
He was replying to a cut motion raised by MLA Govindas, MLA Fajur Rahim, MLA Surakumar Okram, MLA Chaltonlien, MLA D Korungthang, MLA K Meghachandra etc with the charges such as ‘failure to protect the forest’; ‘violation of Supreme Court order’; ‘number of unauthorised saw mill multiply in every district resulting in unchecked felling of trees even from the reserved forest areas’; ‘unauthorised collection of tax of the forest products’; ‘no specific plan for improvement of degrading ecosystem in the state’; ‘lack of transparency between department and concerned MLA’; ‘failure to check the illegal tax collection by unauthorised persons’ etc, according to reports.
Th Shyamkumar said that the set Acts, rules and regulations have not been violated regarding the schemes provided for protection of forest and environment and efforts are made to conserve reserve areas.
He also said that the saw mills in Manipur are run by the licensing authority. If they are found involved in illegal activities, action will be taken against them, he added.
The forest minister further said that most of the ring bunds found created in Loktak Lake has been removed and the remaining ones will be further removed.
The minister further said that there was no existing authority for wetland conservation but it has been created now; therefore, works will be initiated by releasing a notice, he added.
