Forest department caught in manpower shortage

HYDERABAD: If timber smuggling from forests in Adilabad district has become an intractable problem for the forest department, the solution to the menace is not far to seek.
The department is plagued by twin problems of vacancies and lack of funds for vigilance activities. In Adilabad district alone, there are several vacancies in critical areas. The district is divided into eight forest ranges, each to be supervised by one range officer.
But the reality is that there are just two such officers, each holding charge of four ranges. In other words, this means that two officers are responsible for the protection of forests spread all over the district.
Neighbouring Nizamabad district, which forms part of the timber smuggling trail, has four ranges and just one officer to keep watch over them.
Such is the staff shortage that it was learnt instead of suspending a range officer over some irregularities recently in Srikakulam district, the department chose to look the other way and let the man continue in the job. “This district has five ranges and there are only two range officers. If one was suspended, then the entire burden would have fallen on the other man,� an official explained.
The government on its part is learnt to be mulling over filling about 430 vacancies in the department of which 70 would be of range officer and the rest forest section officers and beat officers, the two cadres which function below the range officer.
Even if orders are issued immediately for recruitment, it would take at least three years before the recruits can start working.
The recruitments are to be done by the AP Public Service Commission which itself would take about a year and this is followed by a two-year training period for the selected candidates. However, in view of the severe shortage of manpower, the department is contemplating a crash course of four to five months after recruitment and post officials and then send them for training in batches.
"This is the only way we can hope to salvage the situation to some extent," a department official said.
While this is the position on the staff front, the department is still said to be awaiting release of user charges collected by it that can be used to pay informers who provide tip-offs on timber smugglers and poachers.
(Under the aegis of CSE Media Fellowships).