Status report filed by the Manipur Biodiversity Board before the National Green Tribunal on September 23, 2020. The report was in pursuance to the NGT order of March 18, 2020.

The report said that the state of Manipur had been making all the necessary efforts to fully comply with the mandate of the Biological Diversity Act,2002 and the Rules framed thereunder. That the State proposed to constitute 2282 Biodiversity Management Committees (BMCs) across the state at all levels out of which 1908 BMCs have already been constituted which is 84% of the total number of BMCs to be constituted and only about 374 BMCs are yet to be constituted.

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The delay in the completion of BMC constitution is mainly due inaccessibility of the village due to difficult terrain, refusal of the villagers to constitute BMCs and the restrictions imposed in the state in connection with Covid-19 pandemic. Further, the mandatory preparation of People's Biodiversity Registers (PBRs) for each of the BMCs constituted would incur huge expenditure and the Manipur Biodiversity Board is not likely to receive funds from the government of Manipur and other sources owing to acute financial constraints in the state.

Considering the acute financial constraints in the state of Manipur coupled with the penalty to be paid after the expiry of the dateline fixed by the NGT - the Manipur Biodiversity Board was constrained to proceed in the following manner:

• Constitution of BMCs :2282 (as targeted)
• Preparation of PBRs : 199 (modified target)

The Board has completed preparation of 37 PBRs at village level and 18 FBRs at District Level is on the verge of completion. Action is also being initiated for preparation of the remaining 144 PBRs on priority basis, the report added.