REMEMBERING FORESTRY DAYS

(1948-1950 Onwards)
-D.G. SHARMA

To be associated with forestry and Forest Department of a State like Madhya Pradesh can be said to be good luck and that too over a period from 1948-49 onwards-a period of sixty three years. I was selected as Assistant Conservator of Forest by the then Forest Department of Central Provinces and Berar through the Public Service Commission of Bihar, C.P., Berar and Orissa. The other colleagues were J.J. Dutta, N.M. Trivedi, and late B.N. Kanungo, S.L. Shrivastava, J.J. Thosre (later allotted to Maharastra State), late R, Chakarvarti, late R.G. Mehta and S.S. Shrivastava (still going along) joined the course later. Three more colleagues R.C. Saxena, S.N. Bhonsale and late L.R. Jangle joined from Madhya Bharat. Rest of the trainees were from other States and one was from Sri Lanka, We were asked to join the two years training course at Indian Forest College, Dehradun (Uttarakhand). Two year course covered half the period at the Institute and rest in the field i.e. forests of various states of the country. Our first field training was held in Chakrata (Uttarakhand) forests i.e. in the Himalyan hill ranges over a period of one and half month.
After about six months training at Dehradun, the trainees from CP & Berar and southern states were asked to join the training at Madras Forest College, Coimbatore. The training was imparted by highly qualified Instructors who had either forestry training or service in’the Forest Departments of the country. The research scientists at the Institute gave the training in the college. The top of the Institute was designated as the President and during our period late C.R. Ranganathan was on that job. Director, Forestry Training was late C.A.R. Bhadrav and Principal was late V.P. Mathur. The name of legendry instructor of the British days is P.C. Mobbs, an englishman. The Principal of the Madras Forest College was late A. A. Khan, instructor was Y.M.L. Sharma from Mysore Forestry Department and K. Krishnamurthy from Kerala Forest Department. Late K.M Tiwari from Uttar Pradesh retired as President of the Institute and was awarded Padam Shri. K.Κ. Chockling from Tamil Nadu retired as Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu. I had my first posting in April, 1950 as Assistant Conservator Forest at Hoshangabad of which Bori is well known for its teak forests. My Divisional Forest officer was Late K.S. Timmayya from Coorg. Conservator of Forest was late Tara Singh IPS a clean shaven Sikh from Punjab and married to an English lady. The first year of my service was rather unlucky as I escaped getting drowned in the Narmada, escaped getting killed in a Haka in Seoni Malwa Range and getting bitten by a cobra in Pipalgota forest rest house. I had my range training in Seoni Malwa Range and later I was posted as PA to Conservator of Forests Amravati Camp. The next posting as Asstt. Conservator was in South Surguja Forest Division as Survey officer. * I had my first promotion as Divisional Forest Officer in Korea Forest Division-now part of Chattishgarh. The headquarter of the Division was Baikunthpur and this could be reached after crossing Yamdwari. From here after stay of one and half years I was posted as Working Plan Officer of South Bastar Forest Division which covered Bailadilla Iron ore mines. During my stay in Bastar district it was agog with activities of settling displaced persons from Bangladesh. Two forest officers, late F.D. Lahri and R.L. Awasthi were appointed for the project I had two more postings as Divisional Forest Officer Bindranavagarh (East Raipur) and Hoshangabad. Here I came in touch with Late R.C.V.P. Noronha, ICS, a legendry ICS Officer who wrote a book “A tale told by An Idiot”- and S.C. Verma IAS who later became Chief Secretary, Chairman of Narmada Valley Development Authority and four times Member of Parliament from Bhopal and K.F. Rustamji IP who wrote a column for the news papers which got published all over the country. During my service period, as Deputy Conservator of Forest I was sent on deputation to Tribal Welfare Department as a Secretary in the M.P. Tribal Co-operative Federation. The Society was supposed to look after the work of forest working of minor forest produce, for all the tribal districts of the state. I was promoted as Conservator of Forest after thirteen years of service and was incharge Development Circle first at Rewa and later at Bhopal. Later, I was shifted to Jabalpur as Conservator, Central Circle. My colleague here was H.S. Panwar who was the first Director of Wildlife Institute of India at Dehradun. I was later shifted to Balaghat and then to Bhopal for taking up the challenging task of State Trading in MFP. Along with this I was made the Secretary of the State Forest Policy Committee, the chairman of which was late Shri Chandra Pratap Tiwari MLA along with 18 other MLAs.
During my posting in Central Circle Jabalpur, I had the chance effacing a gang of dacoits lead by Moorat Singh. Even during my work in State Tribal society and tour of Shivpuri and Sheopur I had encounters with local dacoits.
During further promotion as Dy. Chief Conservator of Forests, I was assigned the work of settlement of encroachment on forest lands in the state. The pattas were prepared by the revenue staff and signed by Deputy Collector. The Govt. order was that the pattas will be handed over to the claimants by a person not less than a Minister of the Government. I was lucky to be present when pattas were handed over by late Morarji Bhai Desai, Prime Minister of India for Bastar and Bilaspur District. I was promoted as Chief Conservator of Forests, Development Circle and as Director, USAID. In latter capacity I attended World Summit on Social Forestry at Korat (Thailand). In October 1984 I was promoted as Principal Chief Conservator of Forest M.P. and Govt. was good enough to further nominate me as Director General of Forests, M.P. In this capacity I had the good fortune of attending IXth World Forestry Congress at Mexico. The Chairman of Indian delegation was State Minister of Environment & Forests, Govt. of India. On superannuation, on 1st March, 1986 I was made Advisor to the Govt. of Madhya Pradesh and given the task of revision of Forest Manual of the State. In 1986 my life saw new roles in several fields. I was President of an NGO -namely Friends of Nature Society with several colleagues as members. We prepared several projects namely a project for Narmada Valley Development Authority for Indira Sagar Project, a project for M.P. Council of Science and Technology in respect of state trading and a project for S. Kumar who was given the task of preparation of Maheshwar Hydel Power Project. I was in addition senior consultant of Agricultural Finance Corporation, Union Public Service Commission for IFS officers and also consultant of M.P, Public Service Commission, consultant to Banking Recruitment Board, consultant state unit WWF- India Bhopal for preparation of biodiversity project in a defence unit at Jabalpur. I am also life time member of Tiger Foundation Society, Member Parayavaran Vahini, Bhopal, District Member, senior citizen forum and several such social organizations. For past several years I have taken the hobby of reciting poetry, singing and lighter works like yoga etc. with people of my age. I pray to God Almighty to give me the strength of being helpful to the needy people and keeping me in good health. I end with a couplet-

Author: Late
Retd. IFS, DGF of M.P. State