DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand government has suspended two senior Indian Forest Service officers in connection with illegal tree felling and construction at the Corbett Tiger Reserve (CTR).
The action was taken on Wednesday. Officials from the state government said that further action will be taken in the matter soon.
Subodh Uniyal, state forest minister said, "Our goverment is committed to zero tolerance policy towards violation of the law of the land. Further action will be take as per the law."
JS Suhag, former chief wildlife warden who held the post of chief executive officer (CAMPA) till Wednesday, and Kishan Chand, former divisional forest officer of Kalagarh Tiger Reserve, were suspended.
CTR director Rahul (who goes by his first name) was removed from his post and attached to the office principal chief conservator of forests, Dehradun.
In January this year, the Uttarakhand High Court had directed the chief secretary and principal secretary, forests, of the state to take action against officials over illegal constructions and felling of trees in the reserve’s Pakhro and Morghati areas.
On April 17, the state government served a show-cause notice to Rahul and asked him to reply within 15 days.
In October 2021, the Uttarakhand High Court taking suo moto cognizance of alleged illegal construction in the CTR and violation by the state forest department officials issued a notice to the state government and asked the state government to file replies in the matter.
Earlier, a committee formed by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) found that in order to allow illegal construction and buildings, state forest department officials forged 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 illegal construction of bridges and wall in tiger breeding habitat of the CTR has disturbed the whole ecology of the Corbett landscape.
The NTCA committee also recommended initiating action against state forest officials including a vigilance inquiry.
Following this, Magsaysay awardee and 2002 batch Indian Forest Service officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi was nominated as the investigation officer of the case by the then HoFF Bhartari.
Later, Chaturvedi withdrew, citing attempts to destroy the 'sanctity' of the investigation. After this, another senior official also refused to conduct an investigation in the matter.
On August 12, 2021, the NTCA issued a notice to the chief wildlife warden of the state asking him to submit a factual status report in the matter after a legal notice was sent by Bansal to the NTCA over 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 in the CTR as expeditiously as possible and practicable.
Interestingly, last year, on International Tiger Day, the report titled ‘Status of Tigers Co-predators and Prey in India’, released by the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change minister (MoEFCC) revealed that the Corbett Tiger Reserved has the highest tiger density amongst 50 tiger reserves in India.
The CTR has 14 tigers per 100 square kilometres.