GANGTOK, 19 Sept: The Forest Department has failed to supply information sought through an RTI application, Sonam Pintso Bhutia of Kewzing, South Sikkim, has alleged.
Mr. Bhutia informs that he had filed an RTI application with the department on 27 June earlier this year seeking information on the transfer record of Range Officers along with details of their charges and details of all Centrally Sponsored Schemes operating in Sikkim for the past 10 years including the details of compensations that the Forest Department has received from power projects for the permanent damages caused to the forests.
Mr. Bhutia alleges that the Forest Department failed to provide relevant and required information and “rather adopted the approach of beating about the bush” by “supplying misleading, irrelevant and useless information”.
“The concerned officials seem to have a big hitch in supplying the requested details, especially of the central government funded schemes and power project compensations, to protect their blue collared favorites and for other reasons, best known to them”, he alleges.
“Repeated appeals were made to the concerned department seeking relevant and required information. It is now the third time that the department has failed to release relevant and required information,” Mr Bhutia states.
“In one instance, the Forest Secretary transferred a certain RO, twice in nine days and four times in two months, at the cue of a certain area MLA,” he has alleged while adding that corruption was running rife in the department.
Mr. Bhutia has urged the department to provide all the required and relevant information sought by the RTI application. “Or else, it will only raise suspicions against itself, and this might induce the public to inquire about other spheres of the department,” he has said.
Mr. Bhutia informs that he had filed an RTI application with the department on 27 June earlier this year seeking information on the transfer record of Range Officers along with details of their charges and details of all Centrally Sponsored Schemes operating in Sikkim for the past 10 years including the details of compensations that the Forest Department has received from power projects for the permanent damages caused to the forests.
Mr. Bhutia alleges that the Forest Department failed to provide relevant and required information and “rather adopted the approach of beating about the bush” by “supplying misleading, irrelevant and useless information”.
“The concerned officials seem to have a big hitch in supplying the requested details, especially of the central government funded schemes and power project compensations, to protect their blue collared favorites and for other reasons, best known to them”, he alleges.
“Repeated appeals were made to the concerned department seeking relevant and required information. It is now the third time that the department has failed to release relevant and required information,” Mr Bhutia states.
“In one instance, the Forest Secretary transferred a certain RO, twice in nine days and four times in two months, at the cue of a certain area MLA,” he has alleged while adding that corruption was running rife in the department.
Mr. Bhutia has urged the department to provide all the required and relevant information sought by the RTI application. “Or else, it will only raise suspicions against itself, and this might induce the public to inquire about other spheres of the department,” he has said.
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