The Future Ai

Nainital: : Chief conservator of forests and whistleblower officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi has alleged corruption and political interference in forest fire management in Uttarakhand forest department, and sought a probe by central agencies, saying in a series of “highly confidential” letters that there was a “deep-rooted nexus” between officials and politicians in the handling of forest fire operations.Chaturvedi, who is also director of Uttarakhand Forestry Training Academy, asked the principal chief conservator of forests and head of forest force to order a special audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and seek a CBI investigation. Reports this month had also confirmed that he was assigned forest-fire nodal work in Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar in early April, broadly matching the timeline referred to in his letters.According to the sequence set out in the letters, Chaturvedi was appointed nodal officer for Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar by an order dated March 31, 2026, after which he began scrutinizing expenditure records linked to forest fire control from 2015-16 to 2023-24. He alleged that within hours of initiating this scrutiny he was abruptly removed from those districts and reassigned to Almora, and that another order later took away that responsibility too. He described the change as “unprecedented and swift” and said it was meant to shield irregularities from scrutiny.Chaturvedi alleged that the modifications were carried out under pressure from a politician and said public money released during the fire season was vulnerable to misuse. In one of the letters, he wrote, “It must be strictly ensured that the disaster of forest fires is not turned into an opportunity for illegal money-making by corrupt elements,” while arguing that the recurring fire season was being converted into an opportunity for illegal wealth creation.He also sought a mandatory audit of annual property returns of All India Service officers, including IAS, IPS and IFS officers, and asked that these be matched with bank accounts and income tax returns to examine disproportionate assets. He further alleged that several divisional forest officers failed to provide the financial information he had asked for, citing what he called extraneous reasons, and said this strengthened the need for a CAG special audit.Refusing to continue with the revised assignment, Chaturvedi asked to be relieved of all nodal officer duties, saying the repeated changes were “targeted” and “malafide” and were meant to demoralize officers who pursued transparency. He also wrote that if the political executive had no confidence in him, no sensitive work or investigation should be assigned to him in the future without first taking the political executive into confidence.The department’s position is that the changes were administrative adjustments for the 2026 fire season. Chaturvedi has earlier figured as a whistleblower in other forest-related irregularity matters in Uttarakhand as well. The backdrop has also become more sensitive because the current fire season has been severe enough to affect tourism in parts of Kumaon, with more than 1,000 forest fire alerts in April.