Tamil Nadu: Not enough officers to manage forests

Chennai: On World Forest Day, Tamil Nadu forest department is in a state of limbo with more than top 10 posts (headed by IFS officers) lying vacant. Subsequently, with the state facing a severe drought, elephant and deer deaths are also surfacing from all the four tiger reserves in the state.According to confidential sources at Panagal Building all is not well with the forest department administration.“How can one officer manage four crucial posts? Is this possible with the state police department”, wondered a junior IFS officer. He pointed out that four posts including chief wildlife warden, principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) social forestry and extension, PCCF administration and additional PCCF (wildlife) were  attended by an officer.

With the no nonsense PCCF N. Krishnakumar, head of forest force, retiring this month, the state will have one more vacancy in a few weeks, he added.According to foresters, another eight district forest officer posts are also lying vacant. Coimbatore circle and the tiger reserves are also short staffed without adequate field staffers like watchers and guards. Further, the temporary anti-poaching watchers also have salary arrears pending for more than a month, sources said.  Another classic example is that two years back the state-sanctioned four junior research fellow posts to be filled at the Advanced Institute for Wildlife Conservation (AIWC) at Arignar Anna Zoological Park.Though the forest department invited applications for the post, the recruitment is yet to begin.

The irony is that forest department has fixed a meagre salary of Rs12,000 for the applicants who should possess a masters degree in wildlife biology or botany with one-year research experience.When contacted, a senior forest official, the officer maintained that efforts are on to reduce the drought impact. Temporary water holes have been established and solar water pumps are operated in tiger reserves to help the wild animals stay intact. Close to Rs 4 crores has been allocated for the purpose, he added.To another query on the vacant posts, a senior state official said that the union government has reduced the intake of IFS officers in the recent years causing a vacuum and there are issues related to IFS cadre. The state has written to the Centre on the issue and the cadre reorganisation is on the cards. TN is likely to surrender a few IFS posts and there are other issues to be addressed, the official said requesting anonymity.