IMPHAL, March 29 (NNN): Trees grown in around 10 hectare in Langol Reserve Forest Area on the outskirts of Imphal had been blazed and destroyed prompting officials from the Manipur Forest Department to send a strong warning against miscreants.
The forest wildfire occurred on March 26 evening. Sources believed some unknown miscreants caused the destructive fire that spread quickly over the woodland.
Forest Range Officer in-charge Sadar Hills (West), Sukham Ratankumar Singh told journalists at the spot that teams from the department responded quickly and swung into action preventing the wildfire from spreading to nearby areas.
The forest officer said burning of the protected forest area and encroachment upon are punishable under the Forest Rights Act, 2005 and warned that establishment of human settlement inside the area is against the law.
Ratankumar regretted that lack of manpower of the department was the main reason behind the failure of evicting illegal settlers in the area. He claimed that people are continuously trying to establish settlement in the Langol Reserve Forest Area despite strict prohibition.
He said the department had been successful in saving the forest from catching fire for five times this year. The Range Officer expressed sadness that the officials could not receive the news of the March 26 raging fire on time.
“We’ve learnt that locals are constantly trying to encroach upon the forest which is illegal. They’re attempting to burn it down to build houses and reside,” he said.
Ratankumar added that the illegal settlers have filed cases in the court against the Forest Department for serving notice to vacate the occupied areas as per the law.
“Most of them are backed by well-positioned people in the process. We need enough manpower to tackle this situation,” the officer said.