Divisional Forest Officer, Balangir

  MANUAL-1 

Particulars of Organization, Functions & Duties

[Section-4 (1) (b) (i)]

1) Allocation of Business (Functions):

Being aware of the National Forest Policy and provisions of Forest Conservation Act, 1980, the Forest Department is solely responsible to protect its rich biodiversity and natural heritage while permitting only unavoidable use of forest land for various developmental purposes. It is the firm commitment of the Department to balance the conservation of forests with the sustainable development need of the state contributing to better environment, health and economy. The department has also made efforts to consolidate the forest areas and regenerate the forest cover through people's participation as per different policies/ schemes formulated by State/Central Govt. i.e. compensatory process, JFM process etc.

     The Forest Division is also an implementing agency of new projects under National Afforestation Programme during 10th Plan Period i.e. the Two-tier set up namely the Forest Development Agencies  (FDAs) and Joint Forest Management Committee (JMFCs) called Vana Samrakshana Samities (VSS). In the participatory mode, the  scheme implemented by the Department creates a decentralized institutional structure that allows greater participation of the community both in planning and  implementation of the appropriate afforestation programmes.

     The commercial activity of the Forest Division has almost come to a grinding halt which has adversely affected its revenue earning system. Forest working as per the prescriptions of working plans has been started during 2005 after a gap of 13 years. The free access of local/ tribal for collection of 69 Minor Forest Produce items has became an issue of eye opener for the support of local/ tribal in preserving forest though substantial  revenue has been overlooked by Government in interest of tribal.

     The primary task of the Forest Division is for Sustainable Forest Management with conservation of biodiversity is to associate the local/ tribal people closely in the protection, regeneration, and development of forests as well as to provide gainful employment/livelihood support to people living in and around the forests.

2) Functions/ Duties:

a) Duties and responsibilities of DFO, Balangir Forest Division:

• The responsibility for the proper management of the forest business and the finance of the Division rests on the Divisional Forest Officer. He is to take an active part, in all technical works. Subjects to the prescriptions of the working plan  and any direction he may receive from his superior officers, he will control the silviculture of his division, and will be held responsible for  the correctness of all technical operations. He should have a wide knowledge of the people with whom he has to deal and sympathy for their requirement and should carry out the forest policy prescribed for him with fairness and common sense. He should ensure timely submission of all reports and returns as prescribed and called for from time to time.
• He is responsible for the general management of the forest situated in his division and possesses direct control over the forest establishment employed therein.
• He shall report without undue delay to the Conservator the action taken on the Conservator's inspection notes.
• He should make frequent inspection of the Check Naka station and timber depots situated in the division.
• He is responsible for the proper implementation of Transit rules concerning transit of forest produce and shall prevent illegal and illicit transit of forest produce from his division.

b) Duties and responsibilities of Assistant Conservator of Forests:

• The Assistant Conservator of Forests attached to a Division will assist the Divisional Forest Officer in his management of the Division as may be required of him by the Divisional Forest Officer and/ or as required under the provisions of this Code.

• He shall inspect the Check Naka Stations as frequently as possible and shall submit his findings to the Divisional Forest Officer for taking necessary action.

c) Duties and responsibilities of Forest Range Officer:

Range Officers are expected to carry out the following duties to the best of their ability:

• He must know the nature, value and extent of the forest property committed to his charge and must know the plan prescribed for protection and management of that property which not only consist of natural forests and wildlife but also plantations, roads, buildings, wells etc. He is responsible for the protection of forests in his charge and should see that the works are carried out as per the prescriptions in the working plan or schemes or as directed by his superior officers.
• He is responsible for the discipline, conduct and work of all his subordinates in the discharges of their duties.
• He is absolutely responsible for all cash disbursement and expenditure within his Range, and all payments of pay and labour must as far as possible be done personally by him. He should see that all forest revenue dues from his Range is collected and credited to Government.
• He is to communicate all official orders and instructions to his subordinates, and to see that they understand them fully and carry from out.
• He is to check and control all work within his Range and also to see that work is carried out as per programme of work approved by the Divisional Forest Officer and ensure  that the Government funds are used in the most economical and efficient way.
• He is to protect Government interests by insisting upon the maximum of good work from all subordinates and labour and producing the highest revenue from his Range consistent with the highest principles of forestry.
• He is to collect, check and consolidate all returns and registers and prepare the monthly range account and to carry out all necessary office work promptly and correctly.
• He is to prevent to the best of  his ability any misuse of authority by subordinates. In the case of compounding forest offense, he should see that rules are strictly followed.
• He is required to supervise thoroughly the work of the forest contractors and agents appointed by Government to deal with forest produce working within his jurisdiction and see that they work according to rules.

d) Duties and responsibilities of Section Forester:

The Forester is required:

• To assist the Range Officer to the best of his ability in carrying out the work of the Department honestly and efficiently.
• To carry out the orders of his superiors.
• And is responsible to report to the Range Officer on all important happenings in his section.
• For the proper protection of the forest and wildlife in his charge and other Government properties entrusted to him.
• To see that all work entrusted to him is carried out as per programme.
• To ensure discipline, good conduct and efficient work of all Forest Guards under him in the discharge of their duties.
• To supervise the work of the forest Contractors and Agents appointed by Government to deal with forest produce working in his section and see that they work as per rules.
• To see that rules for compounding forest offences are closely observed and no money is taken from offenders except as laid down in the rules.

e) Duties and responsibilities of Forest Guard:

i. The Beat Forest Guard is responsible for the following works in his beat:

• Maintenance of fence in good conditions.

• Tending of areas under regenerations and weeding young plants wherever necessary.
• Tending of plantations. It is Beat Guard's business to attend to the above works without the receipt of any further orders. When any expenditure on these is necessary he will report and obtain his Range Officer's sanction through the Forester.

ii. Beat Forest Guard under orders of the Range Officer or Forester will generally carry out repairs and ensure maintenance of roads, boundary pillars and building in his beats.

iii. Beat Forest Guard is responsible for the custody of all Government stores, tools, and timber deposited in his charge, and also for the protection of the forests, wildlife and property like plantations, roads, buildings and wells etc. of his beat. It is his duty to prevent damage being done to the forests and should any be done forthwith to apprehend the offender. He will make it his business to obtain knowledge of everything which takes place in his beat and no excuse of ignorance will be accepted. The rules for compounding forest offences must be strictly observed.

iv. It is the Forest Guard's duty to see that the provision under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and rules framed thereunder are observed and to put a stop to illegal shooting and trapping.

v. He is to know the limits of his charge thoroughly for which purpose he will be supplied with a copy of the map in a convenient scale.

vi. He should prevent encroachment, prevent his beat forests against injury from fire or other causes and prevent forest offences. Failure to be fully acquainted with the beat within a month of taking charge will render him liable for departmental proceedings.

vii. He is to patrol the forest to prevent offences.

viii. Normally it is the duty of the Beat Forest Guard to supervise the work of the forest contractors and Agents appointed by Government to deal with forest produce within his jurisdiction and see that they work according to rules.

ix. He will maintain an order book supplied to him in which will be entered all orders or instructions of his superiors that he may receive. He must have the book always with him when on duty and must produce it for record of orders at the spot. The order book shall be handed over to his successor on relief.

3) Details of Service rendered:

   Over the years, forests in the country have suffered serious depletion due to relentless pressures arising from  ever-increasing demand for fuel-wood, fodder, timber and non timber products; inadequacy of protection measures; diversion of forest lands to non-forest uses without ensuring compensatory afforestation and essential environmental safeguards; and the tendency to look upon forests as revenue earning resources. Thus, forest conservation has become more and more challenging for the Forest Department. Hence forest conservation includes preservation, bio-diversity conservation, forest maintenance, sustainable utilization, forest restoration, forest up-gradation in term of density an enhancement of the natural resources for betterment of environment.

   Details of services rendered by the Forest Department may be summarized in the following manner.

i. With respect to essential of Forest Management:

• existing forests and forest lands have been fully protected and their productivity improved by the Department;
• the network of national parks, sanctuaries, biosphere reserves  and other protected areas have been strengthened and extended adequately for conservation of total biological diversity;
• the programme of afforestation have been intensified with special emphasis on augmenting production to meet the requirement of the rural people;
• protection, improvement and production enhancement of minor forest produce have been taken into consideration to generate employment and income for tribal population and other communities residing in and around the forests.

ii. As a national imperative, the Department gives special emphasison

• fuel wood and fodder development on all degraded and denuded lands in the state in  implementing massive need-based and time bound programme of afforestation and tree  planting;
• encouraging the planting of trees alongside or roads, railway lines, rivers and canals and on other unutilized lands under State/Corporate, institutional or private ownership,
• enhancing forest cover and productivity of  the forests through the application of scientific and technical inputs.

iii. The Department gives special importance on

• rights and concessions, including grazing in relation to the carrying capacity of forests;
• development of Social Forestry outside the Reserved forests for meeting requirements  of community, which cannot be met by the rights and concessions.
• the rights and concessions from forests which should primarily be for the bonafide use of the communities living within and around forest areas, specially the tribals;
• popularization of use of fuel-efficient Chullahs in rural areas as a measure of conservation of fuel wood.

iv. Forest land or land with tree cover have not been treated merely as a resources readily available to be utilized for various projects and programmes, but as a national asset have been safeguarded by the Forest Department for providing sustained benefits to the entire community i.e. through regeneration/compensatory afforestation on process.

v. Having regarded to the symbiotic relationship between the tribal people and forests, as a primary task the department is associating the tribal people closely in the protection, regeneration and development of forests as well as providing gainful employment to people living in and around the forest.

vi. Under new project during the 10th plan period, the Forest Department through the two-tier approach (FDAs) and JFMCs is able to empower the local people to participate in the decision making process, apart from building capabilities at the grass-root level.

4) Citizens' Interaction:

   For formulating objectives and strategies to achieve the overall aim, the need of decentralized activities through citizen's interactions is being emphasized by the Department.

   The objectives of the Department under three major categories (ecological, production and rural development) aims at satisfying wholly or partly some of the basic needs of the forest dwellers/ rural population like small timber, fodder, fuel wood, livelihood, gainful employment and income generation.

   Emphasis on self-employment activities related to forestry create vested interest among villagers for sustained utilization  and management of common property resources. Developing unanimous benefit sharing mechanism and local decision making process through increased participation of landless, small an marginal farmers in the management of forestry resources help in sustainable forest management. This relation between villagers/ community and the Department are governed by the Joint Forest Management process, the Village Forest Rules and other pertinent legal documents related to forest management and product utilization such as micro-plan, MOU, etc.

   The people-centered approach in various afforestation programmes provides a firm and sustainable mechanism for devolution of funds to JMFCs i.e. Vana Samrakshana Samiti. As 'village' has been reckoned as a unit of planning and implementation, all activities (such as micro-planning etc.) under the schemes have been conceptualized at the village level. Thus, organic unity in this structural framework promotes efficiency, effectiveness, accountability through decentralization and devolution of authority and responsibilities both physical and financial. During the preparation of micro-plans, the community identifies the activities to be taken up for creation of community assets which are to be maintained by themselves. To ensure this participation, the Forest Personnel at different levels (Village level, Division level, Range level & State level) devote considerable time on training, motivation, extension activities. All the personnel from top to bottom are motivated and all activities undertaken are viewed in the light of participatory aspect. So planning, training, extension activities follow a fact finding and bottomup approach. It means that the personnel during field visits identify the forestry problems as envisaged from the village point of view through dialogues with citizens/ villagers. They identify demands, perceived use of the forest produce,  the existing pattern of forest use, the preferred trees for planting etc. In this process, it is important that special emphasis is given to collect information, discuss and plan with all sections of the society including poor and women, who seldom are heard in an actual planning and implementing process. The fact that the activities undertaken are for the citizens/ society which produce resource for use of society get support of the Department.

     Participation is secured by ensuring that decisions are made by the citizens themselves and there is a contract between the Department and the local unit (village), obligations and rights are mutual and the relationship between all the stakeholders is being one of reciprocity and partnership. Through this approach, the Department gains the trust and confidence of the citizens. The governments of Odisha and the Govt. of India have also decided to institute the award called 'Prakruti Bandhu/ Prakruti  Mitra award' and 'Indira Priyadarshini Vrikshamitra award' to be given to persons and institutions in recognition of exceptional contributions in  the field of Afforestation, Conservation of Forests and Development of Wastelands.

5) Postal address of the Office:

• Divisional Forest Officer
• Assistant Conservator of Forests
• O/o DFO, Bolangir West Division,
  At/Po.-Bolangir, Bolangir

6) Working Hours both for office and public:

   Working hours for office are from 10 AM to 5 PM with a lunch break between 1.30 PM to 2.00 PM. Every opportunity and facility is given to public to contact Forest Officers viz  (i) Divisional Forest Officer, Contact day & time being every Saturday between 3.00 PM and 5.00 PM in his office chamber

7) Public Interaction (if any):

     As cooperation of almost all stakeholders is necessary for any forest development programmes and involvement of public in the programmes various state level functions such as World Forestry Day, World Environment Day, Vana Mahotsava and Wildlife week are being celebrated with much enthusiasm every year on March 21^st, June 5^th, July 1-7 and October 2-8 respectively for creating awareness among the public towards forest & wildlife development aspects.

8) Grievance Redress Mechanism:

   Grievance redress mechanism adopted by the Forest Division is based on bottom up process. When the Forester during field visit identify the problems arising from the village level, he tries to solve the problems in organizing VSS meeting. If public grievance come out from village level or above section/beat level and reaches to Range level, it is resolved by concerned Range Officer. Similarly, any grievance which arises above Range level, the problem is sorted out by the Assistant Conservator of Forests or Divisional Forest Officer who during his field visit enquires about the problem, make night halts to collect information, and discuss with the public. In the same way, the problems/ any public grievance which come above district level, it is either enquired by the Circle Conservator or senior officer deputed by PCCF, Odisha. Grievances are usually heard by DFO, CF and PCCF.

9) Map of Office Location:

10) Organization Chart: