Almora has witnessed the highest number of deaths in forest fires this year.
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Uttarakhand government reinstated two senior Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers who were prima facie suspended for negligence following the death of four forest department employees who died while dousing a forest fire in Almoraโs Binsar wildlife sanctuary in June. Two other staffers who got injured in the same accident also succumbed to the wounds, later. The reinstatement took place after the departmental inquiry found that the deaths took place due to โjudgement errorโ.
Uttarakhand this year saw over 1,300 forest fire incidents and 14 people have lost their lives in the same.
In the letter to reinstate Koko Rose, who was the forest conservator in the Kumaon division of Uttarakhand when the accident took place, it is said that the Head of Forest Forces report concluded that the incident was completely accidental and was caused by a โjudgement errorโ.
On the basis of the preliminary investigation and after due consideration by the State government, Mr. Rose, is reinstated to the post of Forest Conservator, North Kumaon Circle, Almora.
โ…..he is reinstated along with warning,โ the letter reads.
The government also revoked the suspension of Dhruv Martolia, the then Divisional Forest Officer, Almora who is now given the same charge in Bageshwar district. The condition for his reinstatement is same, that the deaths of the forest staffers happened due to judgement error and he has been warned for future.
The preliminary investigation of the incident in question was conducted by Dhananjai Mohan. He refused to comment on the reinstatement of the two officers, who were suspended by the State in what was dubbed as โstrict actionโ by the Pushkar Singh Dhami government.
According to the sources in the forest department, the reinstatement of the officers took place after senior members of the IFS expressed displeasure and anguish over the governmentโs action against the officers.
Calling the action on IFS officers as โface saving exerciseโ, Suryakant Dhasmana, vice-president of Uttarakhand Congress said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has made it a habit to make fool of people and play with their emotions.
โWhen the forest fire were at peak and people were dying, Mr. Dhami suspended officials and pat his own back. Now when its monsoon and people have forgotten about forest fire, they have quietly reinstated the tainted officers by terming the deaths as judgement error,โ says Mr. Dhasmana.
He further questioned whether the judgement error was of the IFS officers of the contractual staffers who, just to save the forests and people living around it, decided to put their own lives at risk.
