Suspended forest officers seek political support

Ashwin Aghor Saturday, October 20, 2007 03:16 IST State forest department is flooded with letters from MLAs to reinstate the officers MUMBAI: The state forest department has reportedly come under pressure following the recent suspension of officers for violating Forest Conservation Act. The department is said to be under political pressure to reinstate the suspended officers. On October 4, SWH Naquvi, Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF), Nagpur, suspended TD Kathane, a Range Forest Officer (RFO) and six forest guards for allegedly allowing construction of a canal in the reserved forest before it was approved by the central government. The Irrigation Department had undertaken the Bawanthadi project in Bhandara. Though the project was approved in 1988, permission to construct the canal through the forest was awaited from the central government. Nitin Desai, Central India director of Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), said, “No work can be carried out in the reserved forest without prior approval of the central government.” A senior department official said, “We were aware that the central government had not approved the construction of the canal through the forest, but we went ahead anticipating permission.” Naquvi ordered an inquiry into the issue when he received a complaint about the violation recently. However, Naquvi, dissatisfied with the report, ordered another inquiry. “The second report submitted by DFO (Vigilance) revealed the actual situation,” Naquvi said. According to the second report, over 4,000 trees were cut down............................................ full news item at : http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1128649