Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh has urged the centre to provide alternate means of livelihood for poppy cultivators in the state to get a control over climate change.
The Manipur chief minister said that it is important that the poppy cultivators in Manipur be given alternate means of livelihood so as destruction of forests for poppy cultivation be stopped.
Biren Singh said that afforestation is the need of the hour for Manipur.
“Go to Manipur and you will find it difficult to find trees. Trees have been chopped down for poppy cultivation,” Biren Singh told officials of the central government while addressing the Northeast Festival 2022 in Guwahati on Wednesday evening.
“I urge (the centre) to launch a scheme for the poppy cultivators in Manipur, so that they can be given an alternate means of livelihood,” Manipur CM Biren Singh said.
He added: “I am very much worried about our future generations in Manipur (due to deforestation).”
The Manipur chief minister also said that the “war on drugs will continue”.