Manipur Forest Minister Thongam Biswajit Singh on Thursday informed that 90 per cent of the timbers that are seen transported along the streets of Imphal city have Transit Pass (TP) receipt, and the state is getting a revenue of over Rs 18 crore from the neighbouring country as tax.
He gave the information on the Assembly floor while responding to the motion for disapproval of policy cut raised by opposition MLA K Ranjit during discussion and voting of demands for grants of the demand Environment and Forest during the third session of 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly.
Opposition MLA K Ranjit Singh raised the policy cut motion on account of lack of initiatives for protection of forest i.e. protected and reserve forest and others.
Seeking information from the minister concerned through the speaker, opposition MLA K Ranjit said many trucks loaded with huge timbers are found ferrying across the Imphal city during the late night, and many of them are found loading huge timbers in Namli, Kamjong district and other parts of the area of the districts.
He questioned what necessary steps the government is taking up on the matter. He contended that in the present scenario, it appears as if the policies made by the government are not functioning properly. He suggested that if the government collects taxes from those trucks loaded with timbers, then the issue with the state’s economy can be resolved at maximum.
Responding to the policy cut motion, Th Biswajit informed the House that around 90 per cent of the timbers that are ferrying in the state are not illegal. They all have transit passes for the transportation of the timbers.
The huge timbers are imported from the neighbouring area as no such huge timbers are found in the state, he said. The state government is preparing to auction 6,000 cubic metres of timber which were found transported illegally, he said. Another 5,800 cubic metres of timber are also going to be auctioned, he added.
Even the video clips uploaded by Imphal Free Press showing ferrying of timbers are also being transported with Transit Passes, he informed.
He informed that the owners are given a deadline of 7 days to pay the transit pass tax. If they fail to pay the tax, then the government will start auctioning them, he added.
In the same demand opposition MLAs K Meghchandra and Th Lokeshwar also raised policy cut motion on account of deterioration of environment due to dust and degradation of water quality of rivers; lack of policies/strategies to control wildfires and need to promote nursery plantation in forest area.
Responding to the police cut motions, Forest minister informed the House that the government has already installed Ambient Air Quality monitoring units at DM University campus and Manipur University campuses.
Due to ongoing road construction work in the Imphal area and National Highway Imphal-Moreh, the air quality has been found over the permissible limits, he added.
The government has provided instructions to utilize anti-smoke guns during road construction, and the department has already instructed the officials concerned to monitor the stone crushing and sand mining sites and others to control the degradation of water quality of rivers, he said.
He further said that the department has already evicted many illegal encroachers from 135 reserved forests and still counting. The government will take stringent actions against those who violate the forest law after the government raises awareness, he cautioned.
In the same demand, MLAs Surjakanta Okram; M Rameshwar and Leishiyo Keishing also placed their observations.
