While the Government machinery focuses on the Vidhan Sabha election 2017, the jungles and the wealth of flora and fauna in the forests especially in the Dehradun forest division, face the threat of being rendered more vulnerable to poaching and other wildlife crimes.

The reason for this is that a substantial chunk of forest department personnel-in some cases the entire staff in a forest range-have been deputed to election duty.

The condition of the 300 plus animals, birds and other inmates at the Malsi deer park may also be adversely affected because of the staff being deputed to election duty with only one staff member left in the entire Malsi range who is not deputed to election duty. Sources state that similar problematic situation is also being faced in other forest divisions located in the plains.

With more than 60 per cent of its total geographical area stated to be under forest cover, Uttarakhand has the bulk of its wealth in the forests ranging from the Terai region and foothills to the Himalayan mountain region.

Observers state that even in the past, the authorities have acknowledged and also issued necessary instructions in some cases to exempt forest department staff from electoral duty so that they may be available to conduct their important tasks ranging from fighting forest fires to protecting the wildlife from poachers and wildlife criminals.

However, this is not the case with the Dehradun forest division which appears to be affected by deputation of the bulk of its range-level staff. The Dehradun divisional forest officer Prasanna Kumar Patro informed The Pioneer that in the Dehradun forest divisional, all the 40 department staff in lacchiwala forest range had been deputed to election duty.

14 out of 15 department staff in Malsi range have been deputed to election duty while the entire staff strength of 23 in Thano range and 22 in Rishikesh has been deputed to election duty. Similarly, 23 out of 24 department staff posted in Jhajra range and 26 out of 29 staff members in Badkot range have been deputed to election duty, informed Patro.

“We could make do with the situation if about 50 per cent of the staff is deputed to election duty but deputing all or most of the staff in the ranges to election duty has left us in a difficult situation. We are Government employees posted to guard the forests but have to go where ordered,” he said, while also questioning how the department staff can be held accountable for incidence in an area from where the staff has been deputed away to election duty.

At the zoo in Malsi deer park, 10 of the 11 department staff had been deputed to election duty which has created a problematic situation. There are about 350 inmates here including two leopards, deer, varied birds among other creatures who need proper attention, measured diet and other aspects which may not be possible for a lone staff member to handle, especially as the contract workers there are not qualified to handle the animal-related tasks.

Stating that senior officials up to the top level of bureaucracy were aware of the situation, the DFO said that he would again attempt to communicate the specific problems to the district magistrate who is also the district election officer.  

If sources are to be believed, similar problems resulting from big chunks of departmental staff strength being deputed to election duty are also being experienced in other forest divisions in the plain region of the State.

Such problematic situations are being encountered in the Haridwar forest division and the forest divisions falling in plain region of Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar districts, sources claim. Wildlife activists fear that with the forest department staff being deputed to election duty, the posts vacated by them may increase opportunities for poachers and other wildlife criminals to exploit the opportunity.