Says that the DFOs will be held accountable for forest fires
The Forests and Technical Education minister Subodh Uniyal has said that corruption at any level would not be tolerated and all corrupt officers would either be suspended or would be asked to take compulsory retirement. Talking to the media persons at his Vidhan Sabha office after assuming charge of Forest department the minister said that all pending inquiries in the department would be taken to their logical conclusion soon. The minister admitted that since he is new to the department he is in the process of understanding its functioning at present. He however added that his immediate task would be to prevent forest fires. The fires flare up during summers and cause large scale damage to forests and wildlife every year. The minister said that he has convened a meeting of the officers of the department on the subject. He added that the divisional forest officer (DFO) concerned would be accountable for forest fires under his or her jurisdiction. Uniyal said that the illegal felling of the trees would be effectively stopped and a drive to free the forest land from major encroachments would be undertaken soon. He opined that the forest laws should not become a hurdle in the path of genuine interests of people.
The minister said that the ad-hocism prevailing in the Technical Education department would be done away with. He asserted that direct recruitment would be undertaken in the technical education department to remove the system of ad-hocism.
