The Chhattisgarh Government has prepared a roadmap for setting up a ‘Bureau of Forest Crime’ in all the forested districts in a bid to clamp down heavily on poachers besides other category of serious forest offenders across the State.
During the first phase, the Government has already established a ‘Bureau of Forest Crime’ each in Durg and Bilaspur districts during the current financial year, this was disclosed in Annual Report of the State Forest Department for 2013-14 here. The core objective of the Bureaus would be to identify serious forest crime offenders, carry out investigation and prepare prosecution cases against offenders for presenting the same before the courts.
The Bureaus would create an effective machinery to control forest crimes by gathering intelligence and discuss follow-up action. The other key task of the Bureaus would be to prepare a data of habitual offenders and monitor their activities.
The Bureaus would identify offenders and carry out investigation under the supervision of Forest Conservators and Regional Director (Wildlife).
This apart, the sleuths of the Bureaus would assist the Divisional Forest Officers (DFOs) and Regional Directors (Wildlife) if they seek assistance to deal with cases related to forest crimes. Moreover, the Bureaus had also been tasked with the responsibility of keeping track of court proceedings related to forest crimes and accordingly update the concerned Forest Conservators of the concerned region. The sleuths of the Bureaus would also exchange intelligence on forest offenders with the State Police, Police of other states besides DFOs, Wild life Wardens and other senior forest officers.