Imphal, May 4 (PTI) Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Saturday said 291 encroachers were evicted from the state's forests after the BJP came to power in 2017.

In a post on X, Singh said the state had a forest cover of 17,475 sq km in 1987 which decreased to 16,598 sq km in 2021.

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He said 877 sq km of forest cover was destroyed, primarily for the cultivation of poppy.

"Evictions from the Reserve Forest & Protected Forest were carried out throughout the state. It was never targeted towards any particular community," he added.

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(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)