Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh today said 291 encroachers have been evicted from the state's reserved and protected forests after the BJP came to power in 2017.
In a post on X, Mr Singh said the state had a forest cover of 17,475 sqkm in 1987, which decreased to 16,598 sqkm in 2021.
He said 877 sqkm of forest cover was destroyed, primarily to grow opium poppy.
He also shared a nearly four-minute-long video describing the challenges Manipur face due to deforestation and opium poppy cultivation.
"Evictions from the reserve forest and protected forest were carried out throughout the state. It was never targeted towards any particular community," he added, amid the ethnic tensions between the Kuki tribes who are dominant in the hills of southern Manipur and a few other districts, and the valley-dominant Meitei community.
In the post, Mr Singh referred to the loss of forest cover as "mind-boggling data", and added, "We rely on mother nature for our survival. Mother nature will continue to thrive without us."
"Action and cooperation becomes even more urgent. Together, the people of Manipur must save the forest, and the land from illegal encroachers... and illegal immigrants," states the video in its captions.
The total area of opium poppy cultivation in Manipur declined 60 per cent since 2021, according to data from the Manipur Remote Sensing Applications Centre.
The report gave an empirical evidence to measure the "war on drugs" campaign of the state BJP government led by Mr Singh, sources had said. Mr Singh won a second term in 2022.
With inputs from ANI
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