Five Tiger Deaths: Karnataka Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre Recommends Suspension Of 3 Senior Officers

Bengaluru: Based on the preliminary report submitted by the committee formed to probe into the death of five tigers, including a mother and four cubs, the forest minister has recommended suspension of the three senior forest officers.

After confirming dereliction of duty by the senior officers through the report, Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre has recommended suspension of the IFS officer and DCF of MM Hills Wildlife Sanctuary Chakrapani Y, Assistant Conservator of Forests Gajanana Hegde and Range Forest Officer Madesh.

In the first place, it was confirmed that the officials had not disbursed the salary for outsourced staff for the last three months. Though the government had released the salary in the month of April itself, the officers had withheld the funds instead of releasing it to the contractor. Not paying the salary was a set back to patrolling in the wildlife areas. The forest staff went on a protest since June 23, protesting against non-payment of salary since March. Based on this report, the minister has recommended an inquiry against Chakrapani and placed him under suspension, pending inquiry.

Meanwhile, despite knowing the problem, both ACF and RFO did not initiate any action to ensure proper patrolling in the forests with the help of regular staff. Besides, they had never kept a tab on the efficiency of patrolling inside the wildlife areas. The post mortem report confirmed that the death of the tiger and its four cubs were the result of poisoning the carcass of the cattle killed by the tigers. ACF and the RFO have been kept under suspension for dereliction of duty.