A view of Simdega forest



State foresters go the dodo way

A.S.R.P. MUKESH
Ranchi, April 8: They may be at the heart of wildlife conservation, but are a vanishing breed themselves.

A top-heavy forest department brimming with IFS officers has left Jharkhand with a handful of forest guards and range officers — the real custodians of the green corridors.

According to records, 2,072 out of 3,398 posts of forest guards are lying vacant for the last 20 years. The number of vacancies for posts of range officers, foresters and assistant conservators are only marginally better. (see box).

Since its formation in 2000, the thrust in Jharkhand has been on creation of multiple posts in the upper tiers of the department, resulting in a low number of field staff.

Contrary to other states, Jharkhand has created three posts of principal chief conservator of forest (PCCF), five additional principal chief conservator of forests (APCCF), over two dozen chief conservators and several conservators, regional chief conservators and divisional forest officers (DFO).

The departments in other states generally comprise one PCCF, a couple of APCCF and few chief conservators.

On the flip side, Jharkhand boasts of a limited number of forest guards, rangers and foresters, who work under extreme conditions with inadequate infrastructure.

Sources in the forest department’s HRD and personnel wing revealed that a majority of personnel in the lower tiers were set to retire in a year.

“Sadly, a majority of the workforce are now retiring without getting any promotion, in contrast to senior officers,” said a conservator.

In such a scenario, there is little left to wonder at, considering the sorry status of wildlife conservation, maintenance of sanctuaries and monitoring of green corridors in the last two decades.

Be it the crocodile breeding centre at Muta, the overpopulated deer park at Kalamati, a ill maintained Palamau Tiger Reserve or inability to check elephant displacement in Dalma, the manpower crunch at the ground level has had a debilitating effect.

Forest officials pointed out that inclusion of the forest division for implementation of MGNREGS projects was also taking a toll.

“Earlier, social schemes were run and implemented with the help of block development officers, but now are proving to be an extra burden on the foresters,” said a DFO.

“Foresters and range officers are the actual strength of the department. Forget about recruiting, they are not even paid properly,” state wildlife advisory board member D.S. Srivastava said.

Besides wildlife conservation, guards and foresters are also capable of playing a vital role in checking the Naxalite menace in the state.

“Since foresters are familiar with jungles, locals are likely to bond with them more easily than security forces. Filling up of the vacant posts will strengthen the joint forest management task forces,” said a range officer, Ranchi division.

Additional chief secretary A.K. Sarkar, who holds charge of the forest department, said a proposal for reviewing state forest cadre was pending with the Centre.