PAll HODs absent from offices, busy with Gulab Singh statue,
all meetings in Jammu cancelled or postponed umpteen times
STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Work in Territorial Forest Department as well as all Forest-related departments in the winter capital has been grounded to a halt as none of the Heads of Departments, with the exception of Chief Wildlife Warden Suresh Chug, has attended office for more than 7 days in the last three months. With no questioning from Chief Minister or any other quarter, Minister of Forest Choudhary Lal Singh has reduced himself to Minister of Kathua as almost every day a cavalcade of 50 vehicles is seen following him from one corner of his Basohli constituency to another.
In the last one week, Lal Singh has arranged at least five other Ministers’ visits to his constituency. Officials in his entourage insist that PCCF, AK Singh, almost all additional PCCFs, CCFs, CFs and DFO are every day forced to shuttle between different areas in Basohli or Kathua constituencies. Of late, Minister has also introduced one of his sons as his successor and heir apparent in politics. Officials disclosed that due to Minister’s “unnecessary tours”, almost all the important official meetings fixed at Civil Secretariat, Van Bhawan or other high offices have been repeatedly cancelled and postponed. According to them, Minister has directed PCCF to divert over Rs 50 crore of CAMPA funds to Basohli and Kathua where he proposes to create a number of structures in total violation of the Central funded CAMPA guidelines.
Late in the afternoon on Wednesday, officials in office of Commissioner-Secretary Forest postponed an important CAMPA Steering Committee meeting that has been already postponed six times in the last three months. While as Chief Secretary B.R. Sharma is the Chairman, Commissioner-Secretary Forest, Commissioner-Secretary Finance, Financial Commissioner Planning and PCCF are members of the CAMPA Steering Committee.
“Every day we are asked to cancel all meetings and report in Kathua. Minister has not seen or signed a single file in the last 21 days”, an official sources told STATE TIMES. “This time around, we all are supposed to remain engaged with the statue of Maharaja Gulab Singh which the Minister wants to install in Kathua. Fuel is draining like water on more than 50 official vehicles for this extra-curricular activity”, said a senior IFS officer. He said that former Principal Secretary Forest Rakesh Gupta had resisted such “nonsenses” but incumbent Commissioner-Secretary Mohammad Afzal Bhat has no guts to confront the Minister.
Officials disclosed that on one side entire Forest Department has become defunct and on the other side, Minister is busy with diverting of huge CAMPA funds from entire State to Basohli and Kathua where works worth crores are about to be allotted to Minister’s brother and son with impunity. Even the State Accountability Commission has never bothered to take cognizance of such reports in media to make the politician accountable.
According to another IFS officer, files are pending in different offices at PCCF’s office and other offices at Van Bhawan for two to three months. “There are some important files which have not been touched by the officers in the last 8 months”, said an officer.
Forest Minister and his aides did not respond to phone calls from this newspaper.
