By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
After he exposed corruption in Munsiyari range in Pithoragarh district, Chief Conservator of Forests (Action Plan), Uttarakhand, Sanjiv Chaturvedi claimed to have uncovered another scandal in Mussoorie forest division where he found 7375 boundary pillars missing in forest areas.
Significantly, enraged citizens in Dehradun in May-June this year had staged strong protests against a slew of encroachments inside the Khalanga forests in Dehradun which is part of the Mussoorie forest division.
Stating that recent encroachments in Khalanga were tarnishing the image of the forest department, Chaturvedi in a letter to HOFF Samir Sinha claimed that though 7375 boundary pillars were found in the official map but in reality, not a single such pillar was found on the ground in the Mussoorie forest division. Out of 7375 pillars, 4133 are missing in Mussoorie forest range alone. Nearly 1733 pillars are missing in Raipur forest range where Khalanga forests are situated. Rest of the missing pillars are in other forest ranges like Jaunpur, Kampty, Devalsari and Bhadrigaad.
After the letter, top forest officials said a departmental inquiry is being ordered into the whole issue.
Chaturvedi was recently in news after the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) took serious note of the alleged illegal construction of concrete structures in Munsiyari range of Pithoragarh forest division and sought an inquiry report from the Uttarakhand government, apart from details of action taken on it.
Neelima Shah, assistant inspector general (forest) at the ministry’s regional office in Dehradun, has written to the principal forest secretary of the Uttarakhand government in this regard.
In the letter, Shah quoted Chaturvedi as having informed her office that during the period of action plan under review of Pithoragarh forest division, concrete structures were constructed by the forest department without any prior permission in the Khaliya reserve forest, which is in violation of section two of the Forest (Conservation and Promotion) Act, 1980.
Shah has asked the state government for a detailed investigation report on the violation of the Forest Act and the names and posts of all officials involved for action under Sections 3A and 3B of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. There is a provision in the Forest Conservation Act for legal proceedings against the accused in these sections.
Shah has also asked the state government to apprise her of the action taken at its level against the violating officer.
In the same case, the Uttarakhand government had on July 18 issued a show-cause notice to Vinay Bhargava, the then Divisional Forest Officer of Pithoragarh forest division and presently posted as Conservator of Forests, Western Circle Haldwani, seeking his reply within 15 days.
Bhargava is alleged to have constructed four concrete structures – dormitory, forest cottage produce sales centre, 10 VIP eco huts and growth centre – in Khaliya in 2019 without prior approval and sanction.