Berhampur: Even as crores of rupees are allocated to Berhampur forest division every year for sapling plantation and distribution, saplings worth lakhs of rupees are illegally sold by some officials, a report said.
According to information available under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, more than nine lakh saplings of sal, piasal, mango, krushnachuda, amla, karang, akasia and other medicinal plants are given to the forest division every year.
The government has fixed the price of each sapling at Re one. The saplings are meant for supply to farmers, government residential quarters and plantation at various intersections, schools, colleges and government offices.
However, an RTI reply indicated that some officials of the forest division sell these saplings at much higher prices to some particular private organisations instead of supplying them to the real beneficiaries at subsidised price.
If the records of the last three years are any indication, saplings worth crores of rupees have been sold illegally.
According to the information, the Berhampur forest division received more than 27 lakh saplings during 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 fiscals.
Though, according to records, all the saplings were supplied to four forest ranges – Bherhampur, Digapahandi, Khalikote and Samantiapalli under Berhampur forest sub-division, not a single pocket in these ranges has witnessed a large scale plantation.
Meanwhile, questions are being raised as to how the saplings disappeared from the areas.
Some unscrupulous officials of the forest department are supplying the saplings to various private organisations by charging a higher price from them, alleged Ganjam Bar Association secretary Prakash Dash who got the information through an RTI reply.
When contacted, Berhampur divisional forest officer (DFO) Ashis Behera said the saplings received every year are distributed among the four ranges.
The rangers concerned have been asked to monitor the proper distribution of saplings among the beneficiaries and their conservation, he added.
A probe would be launched if such irregularities come to the fore, the DFO assured.
