'Sangai population not counted since 2003'

Imphal, January 13 2010: Population count on the number of Sangai present in Keibul Lamjao National Park has been not conducted since 2003, said Principal Chief Conservator of Forest, S Singsit.

He was speaking at the release function of a 2010 calendar published by the Wild Life Wing of the Manipur Forest department at the Mini Conference Hall of the Forest department's office today.

S Singsit said, the existence of 180 Sangais in Keibul Lamjao National Park is on record according to the head count conducted in 2003 .

He said the census should be conducted every three years.

But the census conducted by the Wild Life Institute in 2006 was futile.

In 2009 no census was conducted.

He said, the Manipur government had pressed for the inclusion of Keibul Lamjao National Park as a world heritage site in the Indian National Trust for Arts and Culture Heritage (INTACH) conference on October 13 last year.

The same would be recommended to the UNESCO by INTACH after getting due approval from the Centre.

Singsit further said that there is high chance of inclusion of Keibul Lamjao National Park as World Heritage Site.

Forest officials present on the occasion said that according to a Supreme Court ruling, trees in forest areas should be felled as permissible by the working plan of forest framed by the Centre.

They underlined that trees in forest areas of the state are felled arbitrarily.

They further noted that appropriate action cannot be taken against trespassers due to shortage of staff in the forest department.

They said that the process for declaration of Shirui hills as National Park could not be taken up as some individuals' land would be affected in doing so.

They further said, there is no wildfire in the Manipur side of the Dzuko valley which was reported in Nagaland based newspapers recently.