BHOPAL: In September 2015, a series of blasts triggered by illegally stocked explosives charred to death 68 people in Petlawad town in Jhabua district of Madhya Pradesh. A chain of funeral pyres was subsequently lit on the banks of river Pampavati to cremate the disfigured bodies.
Over two years later, retired deputy forest ranger Mohanlal Gehlot has received a recovery notice of over Rs 3 lakh from the forest department for the firewood, which he claims was dispatched for lighting the funeral pyres. Not only has Gehlot received the notice signed by the Jhabua Divisional Forest Officer Rajesh Khare for recovery of Rs 3,26,129 — of which around Rs 2.99 lakh pertains to the firewood — he has yet to get his full post-retirement benefits totalling around Rs 11 lakh.
“On September 12, 2015, after the blasts rocked Petlawad, the forest ranger asked me to release the firewood from Raipuria forest depot for the cremation. He told me the SDO and the DFO had asked for release of the firewood, after which I dispatched 450 quintals without getting the necessary permission documents from the higher-ups,” Gehlot claimed.
“Now after more than two years, I’ve been served the recovery notice and my post-retirement benefits have not been paid to me fully. I need the post-retirement money urgently to get my ailing wife treated in Baroda and my grand-daughter married. But now I don’t know what to do,” he added.
“I’ve met the DFO and told him that I dispatched the firewood on their telephonic orders, but he says no such orders were issued. I’ve brought the matter to the Jhabua district collector’s notice, but have failed to get any help. So, I’ve filed an appeal before the department higher-ups in Indore,” said Gehlot, who worked for 33 years in the forest department before retiring a few months ago.
Gehlot’s claims aren’t hollow — the Petlawad Nagar Parishad has endorsed on paper that 450 quintals of firewood released from the Raipuria forest depot was used to cremate those killed in the blasts.
“We had written to the forest department on September 12, 2015, for firewood to light the pyres. We got the firewood on time and issued a certificate to forest department officials saying as much,” said Parishad chief Manohar Bhatewara.
Sunil Patidar, who ferried the firewood to the cremation site, and forest guard Premsingh, who was posted at Raipuria forest depot, have endorsed Gehlot’s claims. But Jhabua DFO Khare, who was transferred recently, has stuck to his point that there is no document to prove that the firewood was released on orders from senior forest department officials.
“There is no documentary evidence of firewood having been released on orders of department higher-ups, which is why the recovery notice has been sent to Gehlot. He has appealed to the department against the notice,” Khare said.