Govt transfers ACF who refused permission to fell trees for Indira Canteens

An Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) Forest Cell has been eased out of her post reportedly because she spoke up against the irregularities in the department and refused permission for felling trees for Indira Canteens and Namma Metro.

Rathnaprabha T A, ACF (North), was relieved on July 29 on the basis of orders from the Urban Development Department and BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad. She has not been given any posting and has asked to go back to her parent department (Forest, Environment and Ecology). DH has copies of the orders.

Rathnaprabha told this newspaper: “I informed my higher-ups about all the problems on three occasions. On Friday (July 28) when I went to office, I was told to go away as N Shanthakumar has been given my post. But my transfer and new posting have not yet been officially communicated to me.”
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In a notification on July 22, 2017, K Ekesh Babu, under-secretary, Urban Development Department (BBMP), said Rathnaprabha had been relieved as she was not doing the job assigned to her.

The BBMP commissioner suggested that Rathnaprabha was asked to go back to the forest department because she was not doing the assigned job.

A G Appu Rao, Deputy Conservator of Forests, BBMP Forest Cell, said: “The higher-ups were not happy with her for being vocal about the shortage of funds and staff in the BBMP,” he told DH. “She openly said she faced a threat from the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL). She is a good officer and if she had a problem, she should have come to me instead of going to the media. I would have put the matter on the right track.”

According to Rao, the civic body’s forest cell is giving the necessary permission to fell trees for Namma Metro and Indira Canteens but conceded that no afforestation activity had been undertaken. He also admitted that the forest cell was short-staffed and that no meetings were being held with the staff to ascertain their problems at the grassroots level. “We communicate by phone whenever required. We don’t have the time to waste on meetings,” he said.

DH had earlier reported Rathnaprabha’s assertion that she and her colleagues were being pressured to give permission “against the rules” to fell trees for Metro and Indira Canteens. At the time, she also expressed fears of transfer. In June, she and other range forest officers were not allowed to enter office purportedly because they did not support the tree-felling drive.