Former Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh has strongly defended his government’s anti-poppy campaign following the publication of a national report confirming widespread deforestation in the state.

Taking to social media platform ‘X’, Biren Singh responded to satellite-based findings released by Suhora Technologies and reported by national media outlets, which highlighted severe forest loss in Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh between 2021 and 2025. The report revealed that Manipur alone lost over 21,100 hectares of forest cover during the period, with 17,800 hectares lost in 2024 alone. The primary causes cited were shifting cultivation, illegal logging, poppy plantations, infrastructure expansion, and forest fires.

“Now let’s be serious—even national media has confirmed the deforestation through satellite imagery. Many didn’t believe the State Government’s claims. But the facts speak for themselves,” Biren Singh wrote, defending the state’s crackdown on illegal drug crop cultivation.

According to Biren Singh, between 2017 and 2025, over 18,000 hectares of illicit poppy plantations were destroyed as part of the government’s war on drugs, a campaign aimed at tackling both narcotics and environmental degradation.

Biren Singh further called for urgent afforestation efforts to reverse the damage. “What we need now is mass afforestation. The time to act is now. Let’s join hands and restore our forests,” he appealed.

The report estimated that the deforestation in Manipur led to approximately 9.11 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, underscoring the environmental toll of illicit land use.