Guwahati (Assam) [India], April 5 : Assam's Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) and Head of Forest Force (HoFF) Mahendra Kumar Yadav has been removed as Chief Wildlife Warden (CWLW) after an RTI query exposed misuse of Tiger Conservation Fund (TCF).
A notification issued by the Environment and Forests department of the Assam government on April 1, said that Sandeep Kumar, principal chief conservator of forests (Wildlife and Bio-diversity) cum project director, Assam project on forest and biodiversity conservation society will hold the charge of chief wildlife warden (CWLW) with immediate effect, until further orders.
The Assam government has also asked an additional chief secretary of the state to examine the alleged diversion of funds under tiger conservation and other projects during the visit of former President Ram Nath Kovind and his family to Kaziranga in February last year.
According to a reply to an RTI query by activist Rohit Choudhury, the chairman of the executive committee of Kaziranga tiger conservation foundation said that an amount of Rs 1,12,60,397 is sanctioned from the fund of Kaziranga tiger conservation foundation to the divisional forest Officer cum deputy director, eastern Assam wildlife division, Kaziranga tiger reserve being payment for arrangement of the visit of former President on 26th & 27th February 2022 as grant in Aid.
In the RTI reply, the field director of Kaziranga national park & tiger reserve said that the total expenses incurred by the Kaziranga national park authority on the visit of the former President are Rs 1,64,16,324.
According to the RTI reply, "Total amount of funds provided by the office of the principal chief conservator of forests & chief wildlife warden, Assam for the visit of the former President is Rs 51,97,581 with an unspent balance of Rs 41,653."
The state forest minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said that additional chief secretary of the Environment and forests department Ravi Shankar Prasad had been directed to look after the allegation.
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