DOTI, Feb 2: District Forest Office (DFO), Doti has suspended two officials from its Jorayal sector office on allegations of their involvement in illegal logging.
Sachidanand Singh, assistant district forest officer and forest officer Nar Bahadur Sahu have been suspended from their post pending inquiry into the allegations, Badri Kumar Karki, Chief DFO, Doti informed. “We have recommended the Department of Forest (DOF) for suspending both Singh and Sahu. Though Sahu's suspension has been approved, Singh's suspension recommendations are being reviewed,” Karki added.
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Responding to the recommendation, Regional Forest Directorate (RFD), Dhangadi has launched investigations into the issue. To assist, Suresh Chandra DC, assistant forest officer at the Budar sector office was recently sent to Dhangadi, Karki informed. Budar and Jorayal are neighboring sector offices.
Many newspapers, including the Republica, had published news regarding massive illegal logging in the Jorayal area. “The actions were taken on the basis of field reports published by many media. It has been proven that the massive swaths of community forests were cleared illegally and this involved many people,” he said informing that according the department's internal inquiry it has come to fore that the officials were also involved in it.
