BHUBANESWAR/ATHAGARH: The Forest department on Monday suspended Athagarh forest ranger Aisha Akhtari Nisha in connection with violation of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) by keeping the department in dark for more than a year about an elephant death and disposal of its carcass in her jurisdiction.
The action against the ranger was taken by the department on the basis of the inquiry report furnished by Regional Chief Conservator of Forest (RCCF) Angul on November 2. As per the order of the department issued on November 12, the headquarters of the Range Officer during the period of suspension will be Athagarh divisional forest office.
"The Range Officer will leave the headquarters without obtaining prior permission of the competent authority," the department order stated and added that she will be entitled to the payment of a subsistence allowance in accordance with the Orissa Service Code.
In a clear breach of SOP for reporting elephant deaths and disposal of carcass, the range office of Athagarh allegedly did not inform the Forest department about the elephant death for more than a year. The matter came to light after a report was submitted by RCCF, Angul to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) Wildlife recommending action against the errant officials and staff of the range.
The incident took place in August 2020 when a 15-year-old tusker was found dead in Subasi reserve forest. Though a postmortem was carried out on the jumbo, the carcass was buried without informing the Athagarh forest division.
The report was allegedly suppressed at the range-level, even as SOP mandates presence of DFO and RCCF during burial of an elephant carcass. Sources said that when the elephant carcass was reported, the local forest guard prepared the report and submitted it to the range office.
The matter was supposed to be reported to Wildlife Warden and then the Chief Wildlife Warden but it was kept under wraps at range level for nearly 14 months. This apart, tusks of the elephant recovered were also not deposited with the division office in breach of the SOP.
As per the SOP, the tusks recovered from the carcass were supposed to be kept in the treasury of the division office as evidence or should have been destroyed, in case of a natural death, at the DFO level.
However, the tusks were allegedly kept with the Range Officer and deposited with the division office on demand by the DFO. It is also alleged that the carcass had bullet injuries. DFO Athagarh, however, has ruled out it to be an incident of poaching.
Sources said, the investigation carried by the RCCF has found involvement of two more officials in the incident and actions may also be taken by the department against them.