4 officials issue agri connections in Barmer’s DNP area, suspended

Jaisalmer: Four officials, including an assistant engineer (AEN), were suspended Friday in Barmer district for allegedly issuing agricultural electricity connections inside the restricted area of the Desert National Park (DNP) in violation of rules.The accused were identified as Gadraroad AEN Suresh Jatolia, junior engineer (JEN) Gaurav Meena, store in-charge Kenwaraj and branch in-charge Ratansingh.Officials said the action followed an MD-level inquiry that found irregularities in the Gadraroad sub-division, including alleged tampering of GPS locations and manipulation of land records to facilitate the connections.Investigators found that connections were issued within the DNP's restricted zone, while documents showed locations several kilometres away. In some cases, applications were initially rejected due to the protected status of the land, but officials allegedly used alternate khasra documents while installing infrastructure inside the park. The probe also revealed alleged collusion among officials, with materials supplied and works executed despite violations. In certain cases, files were reportedly moved without approval, and physical verification was hindered at some sites. tnn