New Delhi:

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has taken note of a social media post by Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on forest cover loss in the state due to deforestation and illegal opium poppy cultivation.

In a post on X, Mr Singh had said Manipur had a forest cover of 17,475 sqkm in 1987, which decreased to 16,598 sqkm in 2021. He had said 877 sqkm of forest cover was destroyed, primarily to grow illegal opium poppy.

“Some mind-boggling data…evictions from the reserved and protected forests were carried out throughout the state. It was never targeted towards any particular community,” the Chief Minister from the BJP, whose policies the Kuki-Zo tribes hold responsible for the outbreak of the ethnic crisis in the state, had said in the post which included an explainer video.

On Thursday, the NGT’s Principal Bench in Delhi taking note of the data released by the Chief Minister said they raised “substantial issue relating to compliance of environmental norms.”

“The news item relates to the substantial decrease in the area of forest in the state of Manipur. As per the article, the forest cover in the state has been reduced from 17,475 sqkm in 1987 to 16,598 sqkm in 2021, which shows a decrease of 877 sqkm of forest cover,” the NGT said.

“It further states that this has happened mainly due to deforestation and opium poppy cultivation. The news item further refers to data from the Manipur Remote Sensing Applications Centre, which says that the area of opium poppy cultivation in Manipur has declined by 60 per cent since 2021,” it said.

The Bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava, and expert member Dr A Senthil Vel then impleaded themselves as respondents in the matter, after which the NGT sent notices to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), and the Forest Survey of India (FSI).

The NGT in the notices said the MoEF and the FSI should reply within a week, and listed the matter for hearing on July 31.

The NGT said its Principal Bench is already considering the issue of loss of forest land across the country.

Manipur government sources told NDTV on Friday there had been strong pushback from the Kuki-Zo tribes when forest officials went to clear alleged encroachments months before violence began in May 2023. “Those who have encroached upon forest lands would approach the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes every time enforcement action began. We are exploring legal options to check misrepresentation to the Commission by the encroachers,” said a senior official, requesting anonymity.

Want To Take Our Lands: Kuki-Zo Tribes

The Kuki-Zo tribes have been for long alleging the Biren Singh government manufactured the forest encroachment angle to allow the valley-majority Meiteis to expand out in the hill areas. The Meiteis’ demand for inclusion under the Scheduled Tribes (ST) category aggravated the tensions in a state where resources were already limited.

Kuki-Zo political leaders and civil society groups have frequently said a narrative is being formed to carry out “ethnic cleansing”.

A report by the Editors’ Guild of India (EGI) on the media’s coverage of the violence had also alleged the Biren Singh government did not follow due procedure in declaring parts of hills as “reserved” and “protected” forests.

The crowdfunded EGI report – made on the invitation of the Assam Rifles, according to the EGI – released in September 2023 had alleged the BJP government in Manipur branded all Kuki tribes as “illegal immigrants” after some 4,000 refugees fleeing the military coup in neighbouring Myanmar crossed into Manipur.

The evictions from and demolitions in “forest areas were carried out only in non-Naga inhabited areas,” which led the Kukis to suspect they were being “singled out”, the report prepared by the EGI’s three-member team had alleged.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests SS Chhabra in a seven-page letter to the Manipur government had denied all the allegations.

The ethnic violence in Manipur has claimed over 220 lives and displaced over 50,000 people. They have been relief camps for a year now.