They also claimed that assigning forest protection staff to election-related work would leave vulnerable forest areas exposed at a crucial time and conflict with existing legal and administrative provisions.
Guwahati: A controversial administrative move by the Assam government to deploy nearly 1,600 personnel of the Assam Forest Protection Force (AFPF) for upcoming Assembly election duties has raised significant legal and environmental concerns.
In an open letter, former bureaucrats and wildlife conservationists called on the state government to revoke the order, cautioning that diverting AFPF personnel could weaken forest protection and potentially violate established norms.
They also claimed that assigning forest protection staff to election-related work would leave vulnerable forest areas exposed at a crucial time and conflict with existing legal and administrative provisions.
The signatories emphasized that such deployment would pull frontline personnel away from their primary conservation responsibilities and argued that the proposed move runs contrary to existing directions.
“Explicit guidelines of the Election Commission of India (ECI) state that territorial forest forces and serving forest officials, including senior Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers should not be requisitioned for election duties,” the letter read.
The communication was drafted by Prakriti Srivastava and endorsed by several former officials and conservationists, including Meena Gupta, A.K. Jha, Uma Shankar Singh, Prerna Singh Bindra and Debadityo Sinha.
Additionally, the letter cited a 2024 order of the Supreme Court that exempted forest officials and departmental vehicles from election deployment, strengthening the claim that the directive may be inconsistent with judicial directions.
The signatories warned that withdrawing forest personnel from ground duties could open the door to illegal activities such as encroachment, poaching and timber smuggling.
“This matter requires urgent attention to prevent administrative overreach and to uphold the rule of law, while ensuring that our forests, wildlife and their habitats are protected and not allowed to be plundered by unscrupulous elements in the absence of field staff,” the letter added.
The Assam environment department issued the directive on March 19, instructing AFPF personnel to assist the state police during the elections scheduled for April 9. As per the order, the personnel must report to the Additional Director General of Police by April 3 and are expected to return to their regular duties by April 10.