Want a plum posting? Plant a sapling: Maharashtra forest department tells employees

There’s nothing like the fear of losing out to instil a sense of accountability. In the wake of heavy criticism over the state’s depleting green cover, the forest department has now come up with an ingenious idea to buck the trend

The next time you see such youngsters going about their sapling plantation drives, don’t be surprised to spot forest department staffers amongst them as well. Pic for representation

There’s nothing like the fear of losing out to instil a sense of accountability. In the wake of heavy criticism over the state’s depleting green cover, the forest department has now come up with an ingenious idea to buck the trend: compel its own staff to plant more saplings. To ensure that its 28,000 employees do not shirk this responsibility, it has introduced a KRA (key result area) system to appraise their performance. Two of the KRAs deal exclusively with increasing the forest cover.

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Even the one IAS officer and over 100 IFS officers on the department’s rolls will not be spared.

Appraisals determine the incentives — pay hikes, promotions and postings — that employees get.

Earlier, there was no fixed parameter for performance assessment. Staffers’ future prospects were entirely in their bosses’ hands, said a mid-rank official from the department. “Everything depended on how good the equations of an employee were with his/her seniors.” The target-specific assessment is expected to level the playing field.

A senior official with the department said employees will have to raise 13 crore seedlings by 2018, besides meeting 11 other criteria (see table).

The move, explained forest department secretary Vikas Kharge, is to increase the green cover, ensure effective wildlife management and tackle the effects of climate change.

The state’s forest cover is around 50,650 sq km (based on interpretation of satellite data from October-December 2006) — around 17 per cent of the total geographical area. “We want to increase it to 33 per cent [by 2018]. To achieve this goal, the department has linked the KRAs of its staff to the targets set by the government,” said Kharge.

Of the 50,650 sq km, around 8,740 sq km is covered with dense forests, 20,800 sq km with moderate forests and 21,000 sq km with open forests.

Thumbs-up from activists

Environmental activists laud the plan, but are wary of its implementation. Wildlife conservationist and photojournalist Kedar Bhide cautioned that its success would largely depend on how well the KRA system will be implemented. “Who will monitor or implement it? Regardless, from the point of preservation, it’s a good move,” he said.

Environmentalist Stalin D from NGO Vanashakti said the plan would also boost the morale of grassroots-level staff. “There is hardly any motivation for such forest department staff who are dedicated to preserving the wildlife and increasing the forest cover.”

He is worried that the KRA system might be misused to harass the junior staff. “Besides, there needs to be a proper system that verifies KRAs submitted by officials and approved by his/her seniors,” he suggested. 

Checks in place
The system, said Kharge, will be foolproof. “The forest department will use geo-tagging technology to track any change in the green cover.”

He said employees’ performance assessment will be a three-tier system to ensure effective and authentic submissions and clearances of KRAs. “First, they will be reporting [by the staff]. Then, they will be a review of the KRAs. The final step will be confirmation (by the highest authority).”

In Kharge’s case, for instance, the IAS officer’s report will be prepared by the chief secretary, reviewed by the forest minister and finally approved by the chief minister, only if he finds his work satisfactory.

The KRA forms will be have to be filled by employees in April and submitted to the superiors for review and approval the next month.

Mantralaya officials claimed that the idea of linking KRAs with targets was the brainchild of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. In 2008, the then Congress-NCP-led DF government had introduced a forest policy to enhance the state’s green cover. But, despite spending over R6,000 crore in eight to nine years on implementing the policy, the results fell short of the expectations — in terms of creating a green fund, taking over private forest areas, notifying private forest and protected/reserved areas, public awareness drives, and monitoring the growth of saplings.

6
No. of national parks in state

48
No. of sanctuaries

6
No. of tiger reserves

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