While the forest department plans various initiatives for strengthening wildlife protection in Uttarakhand, surprisingly there is no record with the department about Government orders being released regarding the formation of the anti-poaching cell or appointment of the chief wildlife warden in the State.
This was revealed by the department in reply to applications submitted under the Right to Information Act by PFA Uttarakhand member secretary Gauri Maulekhi.
This revelation has serious ramifications because this means that principal chief conservator of forest (Wildlife) SS Sharma, who has been working as CWW for about a year, has violated the Wildlife Protection Act by ordering the extermination of wild animals including leopards declared
man-eaters because he is not authorised to do so.
She said, “Under the Wildlife Protection Act Section IV, only the State Government can nominate the CWW but the GO to this effect is not available with the department. This means that the extermination of wild animals ordered by Sharma is illegal because only the CWW is authorised to order extermination of
animals declared man-eaters or pests,” she stressed.
Recently, Sharma also said that two units of anti-poaching cell would be established to boost leopard protection in the State. However, information procured under RTI Act has revealed that the office of PCCF (Wildlife) does not have a GO regarding the formation of the anti-poaching cell. Maulekhi states, “The forest department has duped the public by deputing one officer to the anti poaching cell whereas the Government has not even authorised the formation of this cell. The department has neither got posts approved for this cell from Personnel and Finance departments nor presented any working plan on this. The cell has achieved very little since its inception which is alarming considering the importance of anti-poaching activities in Uttarakhand,” she stressed.
On being contacted by The Pioneer in the evening, Sharma said that he was attending
a meeting.