Forest dept’s all-terrain vehicles under special audit scanner

Bhubaneswar: More than a year after the forest department bought high-end all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) for patrolling and emergency intervention, a govt probe is underway to check if the vehicles were purchased at higher than market rates.

In Oct 2024, the forest department procured 137 vehicles for all its wildlife divisions, including Similipal and Satkosia Tiger Reserve. It’s being used in inaccessible areas to control forest fires and go deeper into the jungles for patrolling.


For procuring all these vehicles, around Rs 30 crore was spent, top forest officials said. But alarm bells rang when it was reported that these vehicles were bought at more than market rates.

The vehicles were also customised to meet the needs of a particular area. “Each vehicle’s modification cost the department Rs 2-3 lakh. This is quite a high price even with the modification,” said a retired forest officer who is privy to the developments.

After the allegations surfaced, the govt asked the accountant general to conduct a special audit.

The ATVs were modified to be useful in carrying men and machines to access fire points so that they can be extinguished using fire blowers quickly.

“The objective of having ATVs is to shorten the response time after the detection of a fire in the forest. The vehicle is designed to be motorable in high and narrow terrain, thereby facilitating access to seemingly inhospitable points,” one official said.

Prem Kumar Jha, PCCF, Wildlife said the vehicles were procured in Oct 2024. “Everything is on record. There is nothing to hide. Let the special audit come up with the facts. We are open to it,” Jha said.

Officials mentioned that apart from patrolling by field personnel, the vehicles are also used for jungle safaris and nature trails that tourists enjoy in the reserves and sanctuaries. The vehicles, having features to operate on rough and challenging terrain, were procured centrally from the office of the PCCF (Wildlife).

Earlier, forest minister Ganesh Ram Singhkhuntia told reporters that a probe would be initiated into the modified MUVs that were purchased with the approval of the PCCF (Wildlife) based on requirement and requisitions by respective divisional forest officers.




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