Rishikesh, Jul 24 (PTI) The Uttarakhand government has issued a show cause notice to Forest Conservator Vinay Kumar Bhargava for major financial irregularities committed during his tenure as the Pithoragarh forest divisional officer (DFO).
The alleged irregularities include the construction of concrete structures without prior sanction and approval of competent officials in the Munsyari range of Pithoragarh forest division in 2019, choosing a private firm for supplying construction material and making a lump sum payment to it without a tender process and clearance from competent authorities.
The unauthorised construction of concrete structures in the Munsyari range of the forest division during Bhargava's posting as the DFO includes the construction of a dormitory, a sales centre for forest cottage industry products, 10 VIP eco huts and a growth centre.
The show cause notice also asks Bhargava, who was Pithoragarh forest division's DFO at that time, to explain the signing of an MoU with the Eco Development Committee, Patalthaud, Munsyari, for sharing with it 70 per cent of the income made from tourism in Munsyari.
It also asks him to explain why Rs 2 lakh was spent on the maintenance and cleaning of fire lines with a length of 90 km when actually there were only 10 fire lines with a total length of 14.6 km in the Pithoragarh district.
The show cause notice issued by Principal Secretary Forest Ramesh Kumar Sudhanshu asks Bhargava to respond to it within 15 days, failing which further action will be taken in the matter.
The show cause notice, a copy of which is available with PTI, was issued to Bhargava on July 18.
According to the prevalent procedure, the government will examine the forest officer's reply.
If the questions asked in the show cause notice are not answered with proof in the reply, the government might consider issuing a charge sheet to Bhargava.