The committee, which is authorized to transfer first-class officers to the reserve pool, took the decision on Monday. [break] The committee is led by the minister for general administration and includes the chief secretary, secretary of MoGA and forest secretary as its members.
The decision was taken on the basis of a report prepared by a government investigation committee under chief secretary, Madhav Ghimire. The committee visited Sarlahi recently to look into the deforestation issue as recommended by the parliamentary Natural Resources and Means Committee.
The investigation committee also included Lila Mani Poudel, the secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, chief of National Vigilance Center, Tana Gautam, and irrigation secretary Uma Kanta Jha.
Speaking to Republica, Yubaraj Bhusal, the secretary at the Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation, said, “DG Acharya was transferred as the investigation committee which visited Sarlahi found that he could not check rampant deforestation.”
He added that the committee was acting as per the directives of the parliamentary committee.
Bhusal also informed that a high-level probe panel will be formed soon which will investigate Acharya´s involvement.
A MoGA source said that the DG has been transferred because of "suspicion of his involvement in deforestation activities in the Tarai".
Besides parliamentary committee´s investigation, some other complaints have also been lodged at the Commission for the Investigation of Abuse of Authority against DG Acharya.
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