Sanjiv Chaturved IFS Haryana: story from tehelka

It was during an afternoon walk in April 2007 that Chaturvedi found himself called to duty. He had spent the last six months as Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) in Kurukshetra, his first posting after graduating from the National Forest Academy at Dehradun. He was entrusted with the care of Saraswati Wildlife Sanctuary, one of Haryana’s largest protected areas, home to the rare hog deer, blackbuck and wild boar.

For Chaturvedi, 34, the sanctuary was a temple. As an officer of the Indian Forest Service (IFS), he saw himself as its guardian. That afternoon, he stood motionless when he found himself staring at hundreds of felled trees — babool, neem, eucalyptus — amid rubble and dust. Loud machines and tractors were ploughing through this protected forest with impunity. In blatant violation of the Wildlife Protection Act, a massive canal was being dug through the sanctuary without the mandatory permission.

Chaturvedi immediately issued orders to stop construction. He had FIRs registered against Haryana Irrigation Department contractors and officials for poaching the hog deer, the illegal tree felling and habitat destruction. He also alerted the state’s Chief Wildlife Warden, RD Jakati. But instead of acting against the encroachers, the warden overruled him. The government immediately transferred Chaturvedi. Four years on, Jakati is the Director of National Forest Academy, while Chaturvedi deals with incessant transfers, chargesheets and false FIRs. Four years on, Chaturvedi, the son of a retired electricity department engineer in Uttar Pradesh, lives all alone. He doesn’t know how soon the next transfer could be. Being an upright man has taken its toll.

It would be a mistake though to think of Chaturvedi’s fight as a battle to save a sanctuary here or expose a fraud there. Rather, it is a battle to defend what he holds sacred — the right to perform his basic duty. “We are trustees of the public fund, of these natural resources,” Chaturvedi had once told his brother Rajiv, also an IFS officer in Rajasthan. In four years, Chaturvedi has been transferred 11 times. His longest single stint was seven and a half months. Everywhere he has gone, he has jumped into battle.

In his first posting at Kurukshetra, Chaturvedi earned a reputation for being incorruptible, incapable of greed. That is why he gave orders to stop construction at the 110-km Hissar-Kurukshetra canal despite knowing it was the state government’s pet project. On May 23, 2007, Chaturvedi submitted a report showing alternate routes for the canal without affecting the sanctuary. The next day, Jakati overruled it: “There is no harm in allowing transportation of material through existing roads. Hence permission is granted to transport material through the forest during day time.”
Haryana’s Prinicipal Secretary (Forests), HC Disodia, wrote Chaturvedi a letter saying his action was a “misconduct... You are warned not to indulge in such activities in the future”. After Chaturvedi was transferred out, the forest department declared a portion of the canal inside the sanctuary as a “water hole” for wild animals, though it had no water. Then the Haryana government denotified it as a reserve forest land.

In August 2007, Wildlife Trust of India, an NGO, took up the cause and filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court’s Centrally Empowered Committee (CEC). The Haryana government’s defence was that the violations were of a “technical nature and totally unintentional. The State has always acted for better management of the wildlife and the protection of the forest”.

But in its judgement, the CEC said “the construction works were started without obtaining approval under the Forest Conservation Act, in violation of the provision of the Wildlife Protection Act, and without obtaining prior permission from the Supreme Court.” Yet, because the land had been denotified, the CEC saw no ground for action against the guilty officers. The Haryana government was asked to pay a fine of Rs 1 crore and let off.

If you happen to bump into Chaturvedi — lean, well-dressed, amicable, jovial — it is easy to forget the battles brewing in the backdrop. Being a government servant, he refused to talk to TEHELKA, but it isn’t difficult to run into him at Hissar town where he is currently Divisional Forest Officer. He laughs when told he is a warrior of sorts. He has never seen himself that way. For him, it is all about “self accountability.” Perhaps that is why he exudes no sense of burden: Sanjiv is a man at peace. He understands that external motivations will die, it is his own idea of self that inspires him. And yet, this idea of self is so intertwined with the other, it’s as if he has let it down by not fulfilling his external obligation, his role in the world. His family says he refused to seek protection saying it would send “a wrong signal that he is scared.” He told them, “Dharma is doing your duty without cribbing, irrespective of the consequences. I am enjoying myself.”

FROM KURUKSHETRA, Chaturvedi was transferred to the remote town of Fatehabad. Here, he found the department was spending crores buying rare trees and medicinal plants for a ‘herbal park’ being built on private land belonging to the family of a powerful politician, Prahlad Singh GilaKhera, said to be close to Harayana’s Forest Minister Kiran Chaudhary. Chaturvedi halted the work and began investigating the sanction of funds. On July 12, 2007, Haryana’s top forest official, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest JK Rawat, who should have hailed Chaturvedi, instead wrote: “The Honourable Forest Minister [Chaudhary]... was quite annoyed and has asked the undersigned to see that the works resume immediately.”

For this “indiscipline”, the state government suspended Chaturvedi on August 3, 2007. Suddenly, it became a matter of personal dignity: he couldn’t rest until he had proved his innocence. “These are only temporary setbacks,” his brother recalls him saying, “they cannot defeat me.” And Chaturvedi did win. As per service rules, the state government should have sent a formal report on his suspension to the Centre within 15 days. No such report was sent. The order gave no reason for suspension, merely saying: “You are suspended for acts of omission and commission.” He filed an RTI asking the forest department seeking handwritten notes on his suspension file. The department refused saying it would “hamper investigation”. After relentless RTI queries, the State Information Commission intervened to allow him the file notings.

These file notings are shocking and even implicate Minister Chaudhary. First, top forest official Rawat wrote: “It will not be in the best interest of the department to keep the officer at any territorial division where several schemes and projects are being implemented and substantial public dealing takes place.” Chaudhary added: “Keeping in mind his repeated insubordination towards his seniors, the officer may be placed under suspension.” The CM Office first wrote that Chaturvedi be given a chance to explain but did a quick about-turn, and subsequently wrote: “On reconsideration, CM has approved proposal B.”

Chaturvedi appealed against his suspension. When the Centre asked the state government for an explanation, there was none. So based on the file notings, his suspension was revoked by a Presidential order in January 2008. But a fake FIR had been registered against him during his suspension, accusing him of criminal intimidation and stealing a Kachnar plant. The theft was shown in Fatehabad in March 2007, when he wasn’t even posted there. The police later withdrew the FIR in court, admitting it was based on “misleading facts”.

An NGO Ekta Parishad subsequently filed a PIL in the Supreme Court against the herbal park. Notices were issued to the Haryana government in April 2008. To cover the illegality, the state declared the land as protected forest in February 2009 and transfered its management to the Forest Department. No one was found guilty or punished. Except the man who brought all this to light. After his reinstatement in January 2008, Chaturvedi was kept without a posting for six months. When he was given one, it was below his rank. He moved the Central Administration Tribunal and won.

Helpless, the government posted him as DFO at Jhajjar. Here again, Chaturvedi exposed a scam of over Rs 5 crore spent on fake plantations. He sent out hundreds of his staff to physically count the trees. Subsequently, he suspended nine forest officials, issued termination notices to another 40. Transfers and harassment followed.
Chaturvedi’s house today has empty walls and shelves: the lone fighter of Kurukshetra knows the next transfer is close at hand  
(courtesy http://www.tehelka.com/story_main43.asp?filename=Ne130210CS01.asp ) 

service delivery Kalyani Hospital Gurgaon

I am preparing for an emergency as my old mother is staying with me who recently had a heart attack. I call up Kalyani for their ambulance service

Me: Is the number i am calling on the same number to call out for an ambulance
Reception: No. When you need an ambulance you give me a call and then i will give you the number.
ME: huh! so if i need an ambulance as the patient is in trauma i first call to take the number from you
Reception: Don't be rude, speak nicely.(then she gives me the number)

Amazing service from a health care provider. 

service delivery of IFFCO Tokio insurance in Gurgaon

Needed to renew a policy with IFFCO TOKIO general insurance. As there was an issue in the policy (it was complicated being issued from a different branch i felt i would have to explain it) i called their office at 6,30pm after talking the phone numbers from the Internet

Me: Iffco-Tokio
Reply: Yes
Me: Can i speak to Ms ........., the branch manage
Reply: No, Call in the morning
Me: Can i get her mobile number i am so n so
Reply: I don't have it, i am the guard, call in the morning

Next morning at 11am i call

Me: Ms -------, branch manage
Reply: What is your business?
Me: i want to talk to her
Reply: She has not come, speak to an insurance executive
Me: Okay transfer

Mr V*.* comes on the line

Me: Why is it so difficult to speak to your branch manage
V: She is very ill
Me: I am sorry but this could have been conveyed to me
V: (Silence) What is your work
Me: Who is next in line or acting incharge
V: Ms S*.*
Me: can i talk to her
V: Transfers, line drops

I call again to talk to Ms S*.*. i explain her the situation. She assures me of help. I make out a cheque and request a female colleague to deliver. The colleague complains about the weird office where on entering the guard checks her out.

I receive the policy. Irrespective of all the phone calls and the explanation the policy is all wrong as it doesn't take a key component of insurance.

so again i call Ms S*.* and she assures me to look into the mistake. I wait again. 

Unsung she died

I could see her suddenly sit up and gasp for breath. My mind was numb. It was either due to it the fact that it had been over four hours into this ordeal and my body and mind were exhausted, or the whole thing was

too surreal for my mind to comprehend.

Just a few hours back it was the end of a routine day. I was in Ellenabad, a moffusal town on the border between Haryana and Rajasthan, working on a Disability project with village youth funded by the Government of India. It was the last day of my work in this town as the next morning I was packing my bags and moving to another town.

Normally my favourite means of travel is the public transport. However, as this was the last time I would travel into this town before moving on, I thought my car would be both easy and comfortable as it would allow me to move my luggage and other colleagues without the fuss that is associated with public transport travel in Haryana.

The day had ended and as it was June it was hot, terribly hot, so we had pulled the room mattress  up on the terrace of the dharmashala were we were staying. Mosquito coils had been lit and water sprayed on the scalding roof to cool it down. It was 10pm and the there was an electricity load shedding. As I lay down on the

mattress, I looked up at the star-lit open sky, stretched, and then closed my eyes. It was then that I became aware of this high-pitched scream followed by the cries of a child. I thought some moron was beating his child and continued

sleeping.

But the sobs continued and I could also hear voices and the scurrying of feet. I couldn’t carry on pretending to sleep so I got up and tried to peer from the terrace towards the direction of the sobs. I could vaguely

see people running towards a house. I don’t know why I took that decision but curiosity got the better of me and I decided to investigate the matter. I followed the people to the house. There was animated talk and people had filled the courtyard. Pushing my way forward I saw something smoking on the ground. All I could hear was

“Jala diya" ("she has been burnt”). This was the moment my mind went numb, it was a burning human being around whom people were gathered! Even though I could not see anything because of the darkness it was

difficult for my mind to comprehend a burning human being. I had seen people immolating themselves in pictures and videos, but this was right here, in front of my very eyes.

Why I took charge, I don’t know but I started ordering to people around me.  “All men out of the house, douse the body with ample water,” and followed these two commands by “ I need two people to go with me so that we can take this woman to the hospital”. I guess crowds in a emergency situation wait for a leader to emerge, someone

to take charge and give directions. I say this as my instructions were not being challenged.

Grabbing my car keys and my purse I ran to get my car. One young man and an older woman helped put the woman’s burnt body into the back of the car. We got somebody to put a bed sheet over the burnt woman and I

drove off to a nearby private hospital.

One can only guess what the state of our health care in small towns and villages is in an emergency. The private hospital was more like a two-room house with some first aid. The doctor was on call and obviously we could not expect any help here for a burns victim. The doctor told me on the phone that I must rush the victim to the

district hospital some 45 kms away.

I had no choice but to drive to the nearest district hospital in Sirsa. It took us about an hour to reach the hospital. In the absence of any hospital help we lifted the body on to a stretcher. As we lifted the woman I had to use my hands to give support to her back. The skin on her back felt charred when my hand touched it.

As there were no specialized medicines required for burns patients in the government hospital I procured them from outside. The medico-legal paper work was done and we waited.

It was 3 am in the morning and I came to check on the woman. It was like breaking out of a trace when I saw her suddenly sitting up and gasping for air. It was the first time I saw her or whatever was left of her. She was totally burnt and her body was covered with anti-burn cream.

The doctor walked a few minutes, “Nothing more can be done beyond what we have already done, so why don’t you leave and take rest.” I looked at the doctor blankly, questioning, “what if I am needed?”  He sensed this and explained, "these are fourth degree burns, the chances of her survival are slim, soon her kidney will fail followed by other organs.”

I was both mentally and physically exhausted. So I took the car and drove back to the dharamshala. At 6 in the morning the news came that she had died.

At 8am I packed my bags and drove off from Elenabad, never to visit it again. The incident will continue to haunt me for the rest of my life.

Endnote: The nameless girl was mute, the reason for the childlike sobs when she was being burned. When she died she had a small one-year-old daughter. Her husband burnt her after a petty domestic quarrel.

 The last I heard, the husband and his relatives were making a case that the burning was caused by a burst stove. The story of so many women who lose limb and life in domestic violence across the country. 

This Blog is part of the Men Say No Blogathon, encouraging men to take up action against the violence faced by women. 

More entries to the Blogathon can be read at www.mustbol.in/blogathon. Join further conversation on facebook.com/delhiyouth & twitter.com/mustbol 

a rickshaw ride in the old city of gurgaon

a rickshaw journey

visit to rewari

rainwater harvesting in rewari

groundwater fell from about 60feet to about 100 feet between 2007-2008.i came across these amazing johads in the heart of rewari.each johad has a history to it and is in close proximity to places of worship.however like all cities in haryana, irrespective of the falling ground water level and the problems associated with water no resident or resident organisation has looked and pushed the administration to use these ponds for water harvesting.