Mail News Service
Imphal, Nov 2 : Shirui hills, a hotspot of biodiversity in the Ukhrul district of Manipur, is under serious threats with depleting forest cover and wildlife fast disappearing over the years.
In his topical presentation on “Forest Development” in the afternoon session of the Bharat Nirman Campaign organized by PIB, Imphal on Friday, Lovejoy Rumthao, Range Officer, Forest Department, Ukhrul, said the Shirui hills is under serious threats with recurrent forest fire and wanton feeling of trees. “Shirui lilies are not the only important thing…may also disappeared in future,” he stated.
Expressing deep concerns on the prevailing situation in the Shirui hills, Rumthao felt the condition may worsen if the rampant forest destruction continues unabated in the hills.
Shirui hills is a site for important flora and fauna of Manipur. The hotspot diversity situated 12 kms from Ukhrul town, boasts of being the home of important official symbols of the State namely Shirui Lily (flower), Nongin (bird) and U Ningthou (tree).
Mentioning certain forest development schemes being undertaken in the current years, he informed that the AR, ANR and SMC programme are being implemented in 18 blocks of the district. He said that there are six biodiversity sites being maintained at Challou river, Maklang river at Shakok village, Shirui lily at Shirui village, Iril river at Phungthak hills, Khangkhui and Kachouphung.
In comparison to other districts of Manipur, Ukhrul records a relatively more success stories of MGNREGS but the participation of women are reported to be very negligible in monitoring and supervisory role.
In an address on MGNREGS AC. Ningshimi, Project Officer, DRDA, Ukhrul, said the work progress under MGNREGS in the district is much better than the others in the State of Manipur despite some discrepancies in the implementation of the national flagship programme.
She also stated there is higher presence of women in the actual work and worksite under MGNREGS but admitted that their role in monitoring and supervisory system is very negligible.
Of the total 44048 job cards issued in the district, it is informed that 42 percent are women beneficiaries. It is also reported that another 8663 have applied for inclusion in beneficiary list.It may be mentioned that Ukhrul district is included the third phase of MGNREGS implemented on April 1, 2008 along with the others left out in the earlier programme.
The resource person urged upon the participating students to have thorough knowledge of MGNREGS, while saying they would be the ones to carry on the programme in future.In the district, she stated that there are six blocks in Ukhrul with SDO/BDO supervise the work and implementation at block and sub-divisional level and Vigilance and Monitoring Committee in every village.
Lamenting that the work implementation in the district is always delayed, she iterated the paper process is delayed in most cases and caused the subsequent delay in getting approval from relevant authority. In fact, she said the work for every financial year should begin by April 1 but it is not so in Ukhrul.
Ningshimi also admitted that there are discrepancies in the implementation of MGNREGS in Ukhrul. Informing that the guidelines like mandatory bank account of beneficiaries and facilities for mothers at work site are yet to be realised, she stated that there are instances of excess beneficiaries in some villages and inability to complete the 100 days work in certain years.
In future, she informed that the DRDA would organized a more intense awareness campaign with its inspection rate remaining only at 10 percent.
Earlier, Premalata Loitam, MCO, PIB, Imphal delivered an opening remark on the second day of Bharat Nirman Campaign.
She asked the audience to be interactive with the experts on various issues they wish to know and empowered with knowledge concerning the schemes of national flagship programme.
Saying this campaign is being organized to find out how the citizens are kept updated and aware of the projects implemented by Government of India, she said it is the government’s responsibility to educate the people on all these issues.
“This campaign is also to find out any lacunae in Government’s programme being undertaken for the welfare of the people,” she added.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/biodiversity-disappearing-from-shirui-hills/
