Excavation resumes inside Nongmaiching Reserve Forest after official intervention, questions raised over ‘Patta Land’ claim

Large-scale hill earth excavation allegedly continued inside the Nongmaiching Reserve Forest near Leimaching despite intervention by Forest and Police authorities, raising serious questions over enforcement failure and the legality of claims that a portion of the protected forest has been converted into “patta land.”
The site, earlier highlighted by Imphal Times in its May 7 edition, was found during a field visit by this reporter to be operating with multiple excavators, trucks and heavy machinery actively extracting and transporting hill earth from the hilly terrain reportedly falling within the notified Reserve Forest area.
Forest officials accompanied by police personnel later arrived at the site and reportedly attempted to stop the operation. Soon after their arrival, excavators and transport vehicles temporarily disappeared from the area.
However, according to observations made at the site, excavation resumed shortly afterwards following the arrival of the Khetrigao MLA Sheikh Noorul Hassan, who allegedly claimed that the land under excavation was revenue land covered under Revenue Dag Nos. 2001 and 2002 linked to 40-Kshetri Bengoon village.
Copies of documents reportedly shown at the site were said to have been registered in 2016 and included around 26 acres classified as “State Sarkari Khas Ching” (State Government Khas Hill) and 0.44 acres as “State Sarkari Khas Lambi” (State Government Khas Road)
Forest officials, however, strongly disputed the legality of such claims.
A Forest official speaking on condition of anonymity stated that no revenue dag or patta can legally be issued over land already notified as Reserve Forest without mandatory approval from the Central Government under Section 2 of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980.
“Reserve Forest land cannot simply be converted into revenue land through issuance of dags,” the official said, adding that such actions could also violate Section 26 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
Another senior official from the Nongmaiching Range reportedly confirmed that the excavation site falls within Compartment No. 16 of the Nongmaiching Reserve Forest and forms part of officially recorded Forest Department boundaries.
The official further stated that the disputed area does not appear in the 1960 cadastral map of the Revenue Department, intensifying doubts over the authenticity and validity of the land documents allegedly being used to justify the excavation.
Sources further informed that a Preliminary Offence Report (POR) has already been registered in connection with the matter.
According to the reporter present at the location, personnel attempting to object to the excavation were allegedly instructed by the MLA to leave the area while extraction activities continued. Several loaded trucks were reportedly seen transporting excavated hill earth from the site even after objections were raised.
Environmental observers warned that continued hill cutting inside protected forest areas could cause irreversible ecological damage, including soil erosion, slope destabilisation and destruction of forest cover around Imphal.
The matter has gained further seriousness in light of Direction No. 5 issued in PIL No. 25 of 2017, which reportedly imposes a blanket prohibition on illegal and unregulated mining and excavation activities across Manipur unless carried out strictly in accordance with law and environmental regulations.
Legal experts observed that even if the land is claimed to be revenue land, excavation activities would still require statutory clearances and lawful permission from competent authorities.
The incident has now raised larger questions over how protected Reserve Forest land is allegedly being claimed as patta land, whether excavation is being carried out with any lawful approval, and whether environmental laws can be openly bypassed despite official intervention and legal objections.