Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat has assured People For Animals, Uttarakhand, that he will take a decision within a week regarding the alleged inaction by the principal chief conservator of forests and chief wildlife warden on about 100 letters received by him related to poaching and other wildlife crimes. In a PIl filed by PFA in the past, the Uttarakhand High Court had left this issue to the discretion of the chief minister.
Addressing the media here on Sunday, PFA Uttarakhand member secretary Gauri Maulekhi demanded a CBI inquiry into the alleged corruption in the department. She met the CM Harish Rawat on Saturday and said that the CM had assured her of action in the case within a week. She said that the probability of the PCCF and chief wildlife warden SS Sharma destroying documents and evidence of the anomalies was high so it becomes essential for him to be relieved of his post till the truth is ascertained. Citing examples of anomalies in the working of the department Maulekhi said, “In 2011 the bodies of a freshly killed king cobra and 29 other snakes were discovered in the laboratory of the Himalayan Institute of Medical Sciences. Instead of initiating action against the institute following recovery of the bodies of Schedule I reptiles the case has been under investigation by the Dehradun divisional forest officer for three years. In the case of MlA Pranav Singh’s wife wearing a leopard pelt coat to the Vidhan Sabha a complaint was made to the Central Government from where instructions were issued for taking necessary action to the chief wildlife warden in February this year. A month later a coat was sent to the Wildlife Institute of India for lab test and declared a fake whereas the coat should have been matched with the coat the wife of the MlA was photographed wearing. While no action was taken against the MlA or his wife, a case was lodged against me under the IT Act. Monkey sterilisation has proved to be a failed experiment but the State is bent upon using this method to mitigate human-monkey conflict even though monkey sterilisation has been known to exacerbate the conflict. This is just a ploy to misuse Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) funds. Despite the rich environment and wildlife in the State there is no full time veterinarian at Rajaji national park, Chidiapur rescue centre, Malsi deer park, Almora rescue centre, Kedarnath wildlife sanctuary or any other wildlife sanctuary in the State,” she pointed out while expressing hope that the CM will take cognisance of the questions being raised at the PCCF’s functioning and act against the anomalies in the department.