Lakhs of saplings that are being grown in nurseries for plantation across the district, have been destroyed due to lack of maintenance. Besides, the rate of survival of trees planted in many areas is abysmally low as proper care is not taken by the Forest Department for their growth.
Every year, the State Government spends crores of rupees towards plantation programmes in the district. However, due to lack of maintenance, these programmes come a cropper.
An example is the avenue plantation programme on the Kandarpur-Machagaon road here which is currently being investigated by the Vigilance sleuths. The probe comes after allegations of large-scale bungling of funds sanctioned for the plantation work were made.
Avenue plantation programme here was taken up with grants received under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and donations from IFFCO, a Paradip-based fertiliser plant.
A grant of Rs 62.35 lakh was sanctioned from the MGNREGS for the plantation project while Paradip-based IFFCO fertiliser plant had donated Rs 41.77 lakh as a part of its corporate social responsibility initiative.
Probing the alleged afforestation scam, the Vigilance sleuths have indicted the forest personnel for misuse of funds while planting trees along the 23-km road.
Sources said although Rs 5.40 was earmarked for planting each sapling and Rs 52 for fencing it, only Rs 3 was spent on each sapling and Rs 30 on fencing.
In the process, lakhs of rupees were misappropriated through false bills and tender was not floated for the work.
The inquiry, which is still underway, has found evidence of misuse of funds.
On the basis of the findings of the inquiry, the sleuths have recommended initiation of disciplinary proceedings against the forest personnel who were in charge of executing the plantation work.
Vigilance Inspector Sarat Kumar Sahu said as per norms, if the cost of any project crosses Rs 5 lakh, the implementing agency has to float tenders for the purpose. “However, in this case, the norm was not followed,” he said.
Like the Kandarpur-Machagaon road, plantations in many other roads have been damaged due to lack of maintenance, alleged environmentalist Amar Prasad Mohanty. He further alleged that higher officials of the department never visit nurseries in the district to monitor growth of saplings.
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