Telangana: CMO officials sideline senior officials in other departments, trigger controversy

A team of forest officials visited Kenya and Tanzania without taking permission from the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) and Head of Forest Force (HoFF) RM Dobriyal

Hyderabad: Unilateral decisions being taken by officials in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) and the treatment being extended towards senior officials in other departments is not going down well with employees and has triggered a controversy.

A team of forest officials visited Kenya and Tanzania without taking permission from the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) and Head of Forest Force (HoFF) RM Dobriyal.

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The Telangana Forest Development Corporation planned a study tour to Kenya and Tanzania to gain insights into ecotourism practices and wildlife management strategies. The tour was planned from February 20 to February 27 and five officials from the Forest department were also included in the trip.

However, orders to this effect (GOMs 224) were issued on February 18 just two days ahead of the trip. Furthermore, the PCCF was not informed about the trip and there was no communication to the forest department as well.

Forest Development Corporation Vice Chairman and Managing Director G Chandrashekhar Reddy, who is also working as Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, led the team on the trip. Without taking permission from the Head of Department, a team of five officials went to Kenya.

“FDC VC and MD G Chandrashekhar Reddy, is junior to PCCF Dobriyal. Similarly, the officers, who went to Kenya, should have sought permission from the PCCF or informed him about the programme. This is against the official protocol,” said a member of the Telangana State Forest Officers Association.

Generally, when such a trip or programme is organized, the PCCF is informed and his approval is sought. Just because a CMO officer is involved, it does not mean senior officers in other departments should be sidelined, the member pointed out.

PCCF RM Dobriyal issued memo on February 22 to the department officers, Additional PCCF Sunitha M Bhagwat, Field Director Project Tiger, Kawal Tiger Reserve Shantharam, Zoo Parks Director Sunil Hiremath and Nalgonda DFO Rajshekhar Petla.

In the memo, the PCCF sought an explanation from the officers before March 10 individually, failing which it would be construed that the officers want to deliberately hide the information in the matter. This not only amounts to suppression of facts but also the disobedience as per the relevant conduct rules, the memo read, a senior official from the forest department said.

This is not an isolated case. In the past, a trip was proposed to Singapore but things did not work out then, the officer informed.