Residents of Santaveri in Chikkamagaluru taluk stopped vehicles of Additional Chief Secretary Sandeep Dave, PCCF Sanjai Mohan and other senior officers of the Forest Department on Thursday alleging that they were on the way to a guest house for a party, violating the lockdown guidelines in the district.
Chikkamagaluru district administration has imposed stricter lockdown with effect from Thursday.
Mr. Sandeep Dave, Mr. Sanjai Mohan, R.K. Singh, PCCF (Development), and other senior officers were on their way to an anti-poaching camp near Santaveri on Thursday afternoon when they were stopped. As the convoy entered the village, the villagers stopped them and asked them to return. They argued that the number of COVID-19 cases was on the rise in the locality and entry of people from outside the district had been restricted.
When common people had been stopped from holding any events, how could officers gather in big numbers and hold parties, they wanted to know. They maintained that one could understand if a couple of senior officers travelled by one or two vehicles for any official purpose. But the long convoy prompted them to doubt their intention. The officers, who could not convince the villagers, returned from the place.
Official visit
The officers on the visit included the Conservator of Forests (Chikkamagaluru Circle) Sunil Panwar, and Director of Bhadra Tiger Reserve Takat Singh Ranawat and subordinate staff. Mr. Sunil Panwar, speaking to The Hindu over phone, said that it was an official inspection by senior officers and the villagers mistook it. “The ACS and other officers were on a three-day official visit to Chikkamagaluru. They were here to inspect conservation reserve project areas of Mullayyanagiri and Kemmangundi”, he said.
On the first day, the officers visited Mullayyanagiri and stayed at the forest guest house at Seegekhan in Bhadra Wildlife area. On the second day, they had planned to reach an anti-poaching camp located near Santaveri by vehicle and from there walk up to Kemmangundi, which is about 5-6 km, as part of the inspection. “As the villagers stopped our vehicles, we took an alternative route to reach Kemmangundi. The plan to walk was dropped”, Mr. Panwar said.
Regarding the number of vehicles, the officer said since senior-most officers were inspecting the area, all subordinates concerned had to be present there. “Because there are guidelines restricting the number of people per vehicle due to COVID-19, we had to take many vehicles. It was an official visit and all of them were officers. We were not going there to do a party or to have fun”, he said.
Later in the day, the officers stayed put at the forest guest house at Lakakvalli. They left for Bengaluru on Friday.
