Top forest official faces three-point charges

“I received a complaint from the chief minister’s office regarding financial irregularities by the PCCF. I have written to Finance Minister Amit Mitra,requesting him to conduct a special audit against Raha. The total misappropriation of funds by Raha is allegedly Rs 100 crore. We have also asked the law department to see how Raha can be stripped of his powers,’’ Burman told The Indian Express on Thursday.

Investigations against Raha will focus on three allegations: allotment of 1,435 acres of forest land to Jindal Steel Works at Shalboni; undervaluing Red Sanders wood at auctions conducted from 2008 to 2011; and favouring people close to him.

As far as allotment of land to the Jindals is concerned,investigations conducted by The Indian Express reveal that out of the 3,973 acres of land given by the state government to the Jindals for the steel plant,1574.18 acres were forest land and the transfer was in violation of the Indian Forest (Conservation) Act,1980.

According to the Act,no ‘forest’ land can be handed over to anybody for non-forestry purposes and even if it is done due to unavoidable circumstances,permission from the government of India will have to be obtained. Also the same area of land will have to given back to the forest department. for creating vegetation on that land,all expenses will have to be borne by the party concerned.

Government records state that out of 1,574.18 acres in question,138.08 acres were classified as protected forests,422.50 acres were protected land given to the Animal Resources Department (ARD) for cultivating fodder and 1,013.60 acres were unclassified forest land recorded in the working plan of the Medinipur forest range and approved by the Ministry of Environment and Forests,Government of India.

On January 24,2008,the Land Reforms Department issued a notification conferring the rights of 3,973 acres to Jindal Steel Works (JSW),including the 1,574.18 acres of forest land.

When JSW started work,the Divisional Forest Officer (Midnapore) division stopped work and reported the matter to Special Chief Conservator of Forests (Western Circle) V K Yadav,who brought it to the notice of Raha.

According to senior officers of the Forest Department,while 138 acres of protected forest land was spared,the rest remained with the Jindals as Raha cleared it in his memo No 5755/L&LT/2M-857/09 dated October 6,2010.

In a letter to the principal secretary to the chief minister,Joint Secretary in the Forest Department,Shila Nag,said the clearance was given for two reasons: One,422 acres of land was given to ARD before the enactment of the Forest Conservation Act 1980 and,second,the Ministry of Environment and Forests of the Union government had ‘amply clarified’ that land raised with social forestry plantations will not attract provisions of the Act.

But senior officials challenge this,saying that under no circumstances any land recorded as ‘forest’ land can be handed over without following procedures mentioned in the 1980 Act.

The other allegation against Raha was that officials in collusion with him undervalued Red Sanders wood seized by the Customs Department and auctioned by the Forest Department,leading to a loss of Rs 28 crore.