RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh government on Saturday transferred the principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF-wildlife) and reshuffled the posts of eight other Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers following the death of six wild elephants in the state during the span of 10 days.
The government shifted Atul Kumar Shukla PCCF (wildlife) to state research, training, and climate change. A 1987-batch IFS officer PV Narsingh Rao replaced him. Two divisional forest officers (DFOs) of Dharamjaigarh and Balrampur were among the other officials transferred.
The death of six jumbos in just 10 days led the wildlife activists began raising questions over the alleged negligence shown by the state forest department.
Last Tuesday, a male elephant got electrocuted at Girisha village of Dharamjaigarh division in Raigarh after coming in contact with a live wire used for an illegal power connection at a farmland.
Ealier, an elephant calf died after it got stuck in a marshland at Mongri in Dhamtari district.
Previous week, the carcasses of two elephants were recovered in the forest range of Surajpur district. In the adjoining district of Balrampur, another tusker was found dead on June 11.
Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to probe into the deaths of three female pachyderms in north Chhattisgarh’s Sarguja forest range. The state government then suspended four officials of the forest department for their apparent dereliction of duty leading to the death of the wild elephants.