Saturday, 14 OCTOBER 2023 | PNS | HARIDWAR
In latest news from Uttarakhand, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) sleuths conducted raids on the houses of the former divisional forest officer (DFO) Haridwar Kishanchand and the former forest ranger Haridwar Brij Bihari Sharma. Those privy to the raids informed that the sleuths of the premier investigating agency of the country seized several documents during the raids. Earlier, CBI had filed a case on the construction scam involving Pakhro range of Jim Corbett Tiger Reserve. Notably, a tiger safari was to come up spread over 106 hectares of the Corbett Tiger Reserve land. As per allegations, the work on this project started in 2019 without having the budgetary sanction for it. On receiving complaints of illegal tree felling and unauthorised construction activities in connection with this project, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) team conducted on-ground inspection and multiple irregularities came to the fore in course of this inspection. As per the allegations, a section of the forest officers in collusion with the contractors had embezzled Rs 215 crore. In 2022, the Haldwani sector of the Vigilance department filed a case and both the former forest ranger and the former DFO Haridwar were arrested the same year by the Vigilance department. Further, chargesheets were filed against the duo.
