DEHRADUN: Sanjiv Chaturvedi, 2002 Indian Forest Services officer who was appointed as investigation officer in alleged illegal construction and tree felling in Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR) has withdrawn himself from the investigation citing attempts to destroy 'sanctity' of the probe.
In his letter dated November 7, 2021 the officer stated, "The undersigned has conducted hundreds of investigations within the ambit of law of the land in cases of corruption/malpractice in which allegations on incumbent party leaders as well as on senior most officers of all India services were levelled. And these investigations were approved/lauded by the CBI, CVC, Parliamentary Committee and other authorities but in none of these cases was any fear, desperation, confusion and apprehension ever reflected like in this case."
The development comes after contradictory statements of top functionaries of the state government including the state's forest minister Harak Singh Rawat.
Chaturvedi, an awardee of Magsaysay Award 2015 who at present is posted as Chief Conservator of Forests in research wing of the department in Haldwani of Nainital district attaching a clipping of a vernacular stated in his letter, "I am also attaching a newspaper clipping dated November 7, 2021 in which contradictory statements of atleast half-a-dozen top most officials of the department have been published in which not only legality of the investigation has been questioned but attempts to destroy sanctity of the investigation have been made."
Adding a note of sarcasm, he has written at the end of his letter that in future any corruption inquiry should be entrsuted to him only if the state government takes clear decision to actually punish real culprits in matter of corruption.
On November 2, 2021 Rajiv Bhartari, head of the forest force appointed Chaturvedi as investigation officer in the case after Uttarakhand High Court took suo moto cognizance of the matter on October 27, 2022 and issued notices to the state government.
Earlier, a committee formed by the NTCA found that in order to allow illegal construction and buildings, state forest dept officials forged the government records and violated the laws.
The committee was formed by the NTCA after a petition by Gaurav Kumar Bansal, Supreme Court advocate, wildlife activist and conservationist.
Bansal in his petition had submitted that the said illegal construction of bridges and & wall in tiger breeding habitat of the CTR has disturbed the whole ecology of the Corbett landscape.
Not only illegal construction of more than 4 bridges near Kalagarh Forest Rest House was going on but the Uttarakhand state forest officials are also actively cutting trees, shrubs in the tiger breeding habitat of the CTR, Bansal had alleged in his petition.
The NTCA committee also recommended initiating action against state forest officials including vigilance inquiry.
The committee was formed by the NTCA after a petition by Bansal.
"The entire ongoing construction activities in one of the highest density tiger habitat of the world without any competent sanctions and by violating the various statutory provisions/court orders is an excellent example of both administrative and managerial failure. Appropriate actions are reqyired against all the forest officers responsible for such grave violations, " stated the NTCA committee report dated October 22, 2021
Meanwhile, state government has suspended BB Sharma, forest range officer of Pakhro range of the CTR.
The findings of the committee include alarming points such as illegal construction of the road and bridges is of such nature that it can meet the requirement of single lane highway.
The report stating that frontline field worker is under tremendous pressure to allow illegal construction said that the illegal construction has been supervised by high level officers like divisional forest officer (DFO) of Kalagarh area.
Further adding that the illegal construction in the CTR is going on without any approval and financial sanctions the report states that instead of building cottages inside the CTR the forest officers allowed illegal construction of buildings.
Mentioning the construction work on Kandi road, Morghatti raod, Pakhrau forest rest house (FRH) and water body near the Pakhrau FRH the report revealed that no statutory approval/sanctions were obtained.
Furthermore adding that large amount of earth material was stacked by damaging the tiger habitat in the CTR all this work is in violation of Forest Conservation Act 1980, Wildlife Protection Act 1972, India Forest Act 1927.
The report by the NTCA apart from penal action and vigilance inquiry also recommends demolition of all illegal constructions, eco-restoration with immediate effect along with recovery of the cost from the 'concerned officials'.
The committee has also recommended remote sensing by Forest Survey of India and National Remote Sensing Center to determine the felling of accurate number of trees in the protected sanctuary as allegations state felling of thousands of tree against the claims of hundreds by the state forest officials.
On August 12, 2021, the NTCA issued notice to the chief wildlife warden of the state asking to submit factual status report in the matter after a legal notice was sent by Bansal to the NTCA pertaining the issue.
On August 23, 2021 the Delhi High Court also directed NTCA to take action in respect of illegal construction of bridges and walls within critical tiger habitat within the CTR as expeditiously as possible and practicable.
Interestingly, last year, on the International Tiger Day, the report titled ‘Status of Tigers Co-predators and Prey in India’, released by union ministry of environment, forest and climate change minister (MoEFCC) revealed that Corbett Tiger Reserve of Uttarakhand has the highest tiger density amongst 50 tiger reserves in India.
The CTR has 14 tigers per 100 square kilometers which is highest in India.