SIT will look into the Forest Department’s ‘ghost plant’ fraud again

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has promised that a special investigative team (SIT) led by a DIG would look into the phantom plant’s fraud of the Forest Department’s Research Division, Pinjore, after questioning by the Vidhan Sabha’s Committee on Government Assurances.

After the fraud was made public by The Tribune in 2022, Kanwar Pal Gujjar, the minister of forests, appointed a team consisting of three forest officials to look into it. In their report, the police attested to the misappropriation. On March 22, 2022, the matter was brought up in the Haryana Legislative Assembly during a Calling Attention Motion. The administration presented the inquiry findings and pledged to conduct a vigilante investigation.

But the Assurance Committee took up the matter after the accused, IFS officer Jitender Ahlawat, received a clean sheet from the bureau’s DSP, Devinder Singh. The committee heard testimony from DIG Pankaj Nain and DG (Vigilance) Shatrujeet Kapur at a hearing, and Nain was chosen to lead the formation of a SIT.

According to the investigation report, on January 27, 2021, a letter was sent to previous contractors asking them to extend their contract from January 28, 2021, to February 28, 2021, even though the Forest Department did not have a goal for new plants available. The expiration dates of their contracts were October 31, 2020, and August 31, 2020. The contractors completed 1.87 crore rupees worth of work.

The panel concluded that Jitender Ahlawat, the then-Deputy Conservator of Forests (Research), Pinjore, had violated a standing rule regarding bids. Although Ahlawat was supposed to cultivate 16.85 lakh new plants, the comprehensive record showed that, as of March 31, 2021, just 9.6 lakh plants had been cultivated. It was claimed that 7.77 lakh plants were not grown, however by March 31, 2021, the whole quantity allocated had been used.

According to the panel, Rs 51 lakh was “embezzled” since money was intended to be paid as contractor profit, EPF, or ESI but was instead used to purchase labor, equipment, or supplies.

The panel discovered that starting in January 2021, the Research Division has Rs 37 lakh available. Although it wasn’t done, the usage of the permit to cultivate additional plants was approved.

The upkeep of plants that were cultivated in the past cost Rs 42.44 lakh. These plants were really unavailable. Documents revealed that the funds were used for 3.11 lakh large plants and 3.53 lakh minor plants between September 2020 and December 2020, as well as for additional projects until March 31, 2021. In October 2020, there were just 31,230 plants listed in the nursery registration.

The panel noted that in February 2021 and March 2021, respectively, a sum of Rs 2.21 crore and Rs 5.61 lakh was given for polythene bags. Only 3.22 lakh plants in February and 6.96 lakh plants in March, however, were covered with polythene bags. The panel determined that, compared to reality, more filled polythene bags were shown for February 2021.

House panel takes up the matter

After an IFS officer in the case received a clean sheet from a DSP of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, the Vidhan Sabha’s Committee on Government Assurances took up the subject.