MUZAFFARGARH: The district forest officer (DFO) was suspended from service over negligence ‘as a herd of goats was found sitting in plantation areas’ some days back.

An inquiry into the incident has been launched.

According to ex-DFO Nauman Arshad, on Jan 14, the Punjab forests secretary was scheduled to visit Muzaffargarh to award appreciation letters along with cash prizes of Rs10,000 each to the officials who had cleared the land from illegal occupants.

Arshad claimed that he along with his team had retrieved over 1,000 acres state land from ‘influential’ politicians last month. He said the secretary [from Lahore] didn’t visit Muzaffargarh and he asked south Punjab Forest Secretary Sarfraz Husain Magsi to inspect plantation areas. Arshad said during the secretary’s visit hundreds of goats were grazing on plantations.

He alleged that it was an orchestrated incident against him as he had taken action against the powerful ‘mafia’. He said herds from Balochistan would come here for grazing during winter and the owners didn’t know about the plantation area of the forest department. He said Rs100,000 fine [Rs100 per goat] was recovered from the owners and deposited with the treasury.

When contacted, Secretary Sarfraz Magsi said he had suspended the district forest officer and the range forest officer over their negligence. He said he paid a surprise visit to Rakh Khanpur where a herd of goats damaged a large number of plants.

Magsi said he had transferred 22 guards from Muzaffargarh to other places, adding that the department had awarded cash prizes and appreciation certificates to the officials who retrieved the land.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2022