KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, Aug 1: While most of the forest department staff are known for their wishy-washy way of functioning, there are some officials who do it with utmost sincerity and painstakingly.
A newly-posted forest beat officer in Dalma West forest range is Raja Ghosh whom other forest officials should emulate.
Ghosh has been posted in a beat comprised of four revenue villages under the Dalma West range recently.
Ghosh asks JBVNL to fix five tilted poles
The beat officer joined the Dalma West range Monday last and from the very next day he started devoting his time and energy to the wellbeing of the elephants which are falling to electrocution on a regular basis in the adjoining Chakulia forest range.
The forest officer took stock of each and every electric pole and ensured whether the power transmission line had passed through the forest at adequate height as per the specifications.
Within 48 hours of his joining in the range, the forest officer did not only inspected all the 121 poles that fall under his beat area, but also contacted the Mango division of Jharkhand Bijli Vitaran Nigam Ltd (JBVNL) to fix as many as five poles which were found tilted, causing the power line to dangle at a low level.
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Ghosh pays heed to electrocution incidents
The four forest revenue villages which fall under the jurisdiction of Raja Ghosh are Bhadodih, Saldoha, Chimti and Kutimakuli.
Ghosh, when queried, said herd of wild elephants hardly treads into the four villages under his jurisdiction, but in a musth condition, a male elephant may stray into his beat as during such period the elephant does not follow its corridor and may stray into any place in the jungle unpredictably.
“Why leave any scope of risk for any elephant even in musth condition to enter into my area and fall victim to electrocution?” the forest officer quipped while replying to The Jharkhand Story.
Ghosh stated that the Dalma is known for elephants’ habitat there and every inch of this sprawling hill should remain safe on all fronts, especially at a time when several elephants are falling victim to electrocution in the adjoining Chakulia range.
Seven elephants electrocuted last year
Significantly, on July 21 an adult elephant was found lying dead in a field under mysterious circumstances in Chakulia range. A postmortem carried out by a panel of three vets suggested the elephant died of cardiac respiratory arrest, some forest officers hinted it to be a case of electrocution death.
Jamshedpur DFO, Saba Alam when queried replied that though the panel of vets has opined that the elephant died of cardiac respiratory arrest, the viscera of the elephant has been sent to a Bareilly-based research Institute for analysis conclusively.
Last year seven elephants were found lying electrocuted in two separate incidents in the Ghatsila sub-division within a gap of two months with the forest department doing almost nothing to stop the menacing incidents.
