Mancherial: Chennur FDO draws flak for man-handling staffers

Mancherial: Chennur Forest Divisional Officer S Ramesh drew flak for allegedly man-handling staffers of basecamp holding them responsible for felling of trees in Nelwai forest range on Monday. The incident came to light on Tuesday. Ramesh reportedly beat up Kistaiah and Rakesh, staffers who were discharging duties at a base camp in Baddampalli forests in Nelwai forest range for failing to prevent smuggling of teak trees. He was upset over the staffers following decimation of the trees in the range. He expressed anger and thrashed the two holding them responsible for felling of the trees.

The FDO was not available for a comment despite repeated attempts to reach him. It is learnt that employees of the forest department took leaves for preparing to appear for job recruitment exams with the State government deciding to fill up 80,039 posts lying vacant in various departments. This has led to felling of teak and other trees by smugglers in this region. Senior authorities, however, are expressing concern over dwindling forest cover.