Forest dept head unceremoniously fired

Official believes anti-encroachment drive stepped on the wrong toes

KARACHI: The chief conservator of the Sindh Forest Department, Riaz Ahmed Wagan, who was arrested by the anti-corruption department officials on Wednesday evening, was released on bail on Monday. Soon after his arrest, Mir Nadir Talpur was appointed as the head of the department.

Some influential persons of Thatta district, whose names are not being shared, had registered an FIR against the district forest officer for auctioning trees in the area last November. The district officer cancelled the auction order after the FIR was registered.

Interestingly, Wagan was out of country when the case against the auction of trees was registered. The complainant had implicated him in the FIR the day he returned.Officials told The Express Tribune that on the same day that the new FIR was registered, the head of the forest department was arrested. "The case is fake," Wagan told The Express Tribune.

Over 100,000 acres belonging to the department has been encroached in Sindh. On the orders of the Sindh High Court, the department had launched an operation against encroachers in mid-December, reclaiming over 6,000 acres in Ghotki and Sukkur. Wagan claimed he had been frequently threatened by influential people on the issue of lease and encroachments. "I cannot understand how the government can make their own official feel like a common thief," he alleged. "It is completely unethical and illegal to sideline a public servant by insulting him."

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2015.