IMPHAL: Unbelievable as it may seem, no staff has been recruited in the Manipur forest department since the late eighties, which is turning out to be one of the prime causes for depletion of forest cover and biodiversity in the state.

The rise in poaching and illegal felling of trees in Manipur can be attributed to the acute lack of manpower, particularly forest guards, in the state forest department. The small number of forest guards has made it easy for poachers and timber smugglers to carry out their unlawful activities.

On the occasion of World Environment Day, a senior officer in the forest department told TOI that the department has already urged the government to fill in the vacancies and set up a battalion of Forest Protection Force (FPF).

Though over 77 per cent of the whole geographical area of Manipur is covered with forests, the forest cover is fast diminishing in the state due to poaching and timber smuggling. The forest guards are not even issued arms owning to the volatile law and order situation in Manipur.

The arms given to the guards were taken away after rebels snatched weapons from them in many occasions in the 1980s, a senior forest official said even as the department is caught in an old case of missing 90 rifles issued to forest guards 30 years ago.

Smuggling of animal parts into neighbouring Myanmar is also on the rise and poaching and smuggling of tokay geckos is increasing at an alarming rate, said wildlife experts.

Assam Rifles personnel and other government agencies have seized large quantities of animal parts like tiger skins, tiger bones, pangolin scales, deer horns and bear glands at different security check posts in Chandel district enroute the border town of Moreh.

In February this year, unarmed forest guards caught two poachers red-handed while they were dressing the carcass of a rare brow antlered deer locally known as Sangai at Keibul Lamjao, the only floating park in the world and home to the endangered deer.

People for Animal (PFA), Thoubal, have demanded that the state government install unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) inside the unfenced national park to detect poachers.

"With our limited manpower, we are doing our best to curb poaching across the state. The need of the hour is to strengthen the manpower. The department has weakened since no fresh recruitments have taken place since 1986 and employees are retiring from service year after year," said the forest officer.