Manipur Climate Change Minister Thongam Biswajit on Tuesday distributed 49 newly procured arms to forest personnel of various divisions under the state Forest department. The minister also released a documentary on wildlife conservation produced by the state Forest department.
The arms distribution and documentary release programme was held at Forest Head office, Sanjenthong, Imphal East. DFO and various officials of the department were present during the programme.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister Th Biswajit stated that the arms were distributed to boost the morale and confidence of forest guard personnel. He exuded confidence that the move will aid the personnel in dispensing their duties more diligently and protect forest areas of the state with renewed courage.
“Other states across the country had taken drastic steps to upgrade their respective forest departments. The Manipur government decided to adopt the same to make forest conservation efforts more fruitful,” Biswajit said.
He noted that altogether 100 arms had been procured out of which 49 had been distributed to forest personnel who had received basic arms training. The remaining arms will be distributed after more forest personnel complete training, he added.
He pointed out that the state government will fill in all required posts of the Forest department swiftly to ramp up the efforts on forest and environment conservation. He maintained that the move will benefit forest officials in conducting their duties more efficiently.
He highlighted that selfish human intervention in the natural chain of existence inflicted degradation in the balanced state of the environment. It is human responsibility to correct the wrongs and safeguard the environment from further destruction, he added.
“The bottom line is humans cannot exist without nature; therefore, It is the foremost duty to preserve and protect nature for posterity,” he said.
He urged the forest personnel to use the arms responsibly and exhorted the people of the state to do away with misunderstandings and exert collective effort in forest conservation.
The forest divisions which received the arms on Tuesday include the Central Forest division, Parks and Sanctuary, Kangpokpi, Churachandpur, Thoubal, Bishnupur and Chandel forest divisions. The newly distributed arms are pump action rifles and double barrel rifles.
The documentary on wildlife conservation will be released on social media platforms shortly.
