By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 14 Sep: In view of the acute shortage of rangers in the State Forest Department, the Government has decided to promote as many as 51 Deputy rangers as rangers to overcome this shortage. Speaking to Garhwal Post, Forest Minister Subodh Uniyal asserted that there is a huge shortage of rangers in the department. He added that a list will be released soon to deploy deputy rangers as in-charge rangers. Apart from this, some junior deputy rangers who have been given charge as per the arrangement will also be considered.
It may be recalled that there are 85 such non-territorial ranges out of a total of 100 ranges in Uttarakhand Forest Department, which are not being manned by full fledged range officers since a long time. Due to the huge shortage of rangers in the department, it is becoming difficult to fill these posts. The total number of non-territorial ranges in the state is 100 which makes it clear that most of the ranges are running without full time rangers. In view of these situations, there has been a constant demand for posting deputy rangers as in-charge rangers. Soon, out of about 85 ranges in the state, in-charge rangers will be posted in 51 ranges.
A decision could not be taken earlier by the forest headquarters or the government regarding posting deputy rangers as in-charge rangers. The big thing is that the dilemma in this matter has arisen due to an order of the government itself, on the basis of which the rangers of the department had objected to the posting of deputy rangers as rangers in charge and the matter had reached the High Court. However, it is a matter of relief for the Uttarakhand Forest Department that now the government has given permission in this regard and issued an order to make deputy rangers in-charge rangers. These deputy rangers are likely to be posted in these 82 ranges as in-charge rangers. Currently, if seen on the basis of seniority, there are only 51 deputy rangers who fulfil the eligibility norms of seniority as in-charge rangers. On the other hand, there are 59 deputy rangers who are looking after the work of rangers despite not having seniority as per the arrangement. Meanwhile some rangers have also claimed that there is resentment within the department due to some senior deputy rangers not getting the charge as rangers while the juniors are being given the work of the range as per the arrangement.
