Thiruvananthapuram: The forest department’s investigation teams probing the widespread mass tree felling in Kerala have been asked to look into the lapses of the department officials after preliminary probe reports put the blame solely on the revenue department.
Avoiding the failures of the forest department officials, the daily probe reports blamed the revenue officials alone for the mass felling of trees.
The north, central and south zones of the Forest Department have submitted three reports to the minister concerned and the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Vigilance). The reports have not mentioned the lapses on the part of the forest department officials.
Realising that blaming the revenue department alone would create issues, the forest department has been instructed to add more details to the reports.
The probe teams have been asked to identify those responsible for the tree felling, whether trees were felled without permission, if the trees permitted to be chopped were included in tree registry, and whether passes were issued for cutting down the trees.
The daily reports mostly included the details of passes issued to fell trees. The Minister of Forests, A K Saseendran, had rejected a June 16 report citing lack of details.
Mass transfers likely
The Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Vigilance) Ganga Singh will submit an investigation report to Minister Saseendran on Tuesday. The report will be the compilation of five reports by as many probe teams the forest department had constituted.
Meanwhile, there are hints that the forest department will initiate a mass transfer of its officials in the coming days. Saseendran said department-level action will be initiated based on the probe reports.
