Ranchi’s High Court bench turned up the heat on Jharkhand officials Monday, ordering a fresh status report within two weeks on the 2020 lockdown-era tree felling racket. What began as opportunistic deforestation in districts like Palamu, Jamtara, and Ranchi has snowballed into a major scandal implicating forest department staff from top to bottom.
State counsel confessed during the hearing that investigations uncovered complicity among Range Forest Officers, Rangers, and Guards. Two officials face charge sheets, and arrest warrants are out for a third. The CID’s probe into Palamu’s two FIRs has been hampered by internal departmental interference, leading to years of foot-dragging.
Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad’s division bench grilled ADG CID and DSP in court, voicing outrage at the glacial pace. Earlier, the court had ripped into the PCCF and DGP for unsatisfactory replies, noting that six years without resolution smacked of contempt. Demands for documents were dismissed as excuses; the focus remains on swift, thorough action.
Petitioners detailed how hundreds of trees vanished amid lockdown chaos, loaded onto more than 200 trucks and spirited away. This environmental crime, exposed post-lockdown, underscores vulnerabilities in forest protection. With the clock ticking on the court’s ultimatum, Jharkhand faces a reckoning for safeguarding its green cover.
