The much-hyped Mo Sarkar and 5T initiatives of the State Government look completely useless for the Athagarh Forest Division at present.

Here, the authorities run the office at their whim and pleasure. As per allegations, most of the staff members, including some officers, do not halt at the headquarters. Rather, they come regularly from Bhubaneswar in office vehicles.

Some employees of the division, requesting anonymity, say that these officers have very good rapport with Commissioners of allied departments, PCCF, 5T Commissioner VK Pandian, several pro-Government journalists and thereby the members of Bhubaneswar Club for which all allegations against them on negligence of duties go to dustbins.

These officers divert the attention of the people and the administration by giving superfluous information to the media of their choice. Recently, a rare leopard was killed in Tigiria jungle. The authority here burnt its body to hide the incident.

In the case for a token of action, the DFO suspended a Forester and a Guard for a very little period. Then to divert the attention of the media, the authority here published some paid news on pangolin smuggling in a south India based national English daily in Bhubaneswar dateline and also in a Cuttack based Odia daily.

In the pangolin smuggling case, the Athagarh DFO swung into action and grilled about 20 smugglers engaged in the case and took the case for probe by WCCB but forgot to hand over the leopard death case to the later.

The Athagarh DFO does not entertain media personnel.  All Forest Range Officers and Foresters have been warned by the DFO not to share any information regarding the department at any cost to the media, which hampers the transparency of the public office.

Now, it is observed that there is no team work, rather the command of the DFO is final. Man-elephant is on the rise in Athagarh. But the Gaja-Bandhu and Hati-Sathi personnel work not at the sites but at the office of the DFO and her residence for the beautification of the premises.

All the suspected pangolin smugglers whom the DFO had arrested have been given bail by the courts due to lack of adequate proof. Some say that to get rid of tiger death case, the department here is diverting everybody’s attention.

The behaviour of officers in this office is not good for which, victims of crop loss by wild animals do not wish to rush the office. However, where there is restriction for the mediapersons to this public office, one can observe its implications. In this juncture, the safety of the jungle and wildlife is at a stake.