Tussle between Darjeeling Zoo director and District Magistrate

Tussle between Darjeeling Zoo director and District Magistrate
SUBRATA NAGCHOUDHURY

DARJEELING, JULY 24: When officers of the country's most coveted service -- the IAS and the IFS -- are at loggerheads, animals at the zoo become the victims and suffer.

This is exactly what happened at the Darjeeling Himalayan zoo early this month. An ugly stand-off between Zoo Director Debabrata Biswas (IFS cadre) and District Magistrate Anil Verma (IAS cadre) was dragged to the extreme. The result: Over 70-odd mammals and about 25 rare species of Himalayan birds had to go hungry and without food for over 24 hours.

At the end of an intense two-year long tussle, Biswas is finally grounded, but not before he takes a final punch at the District Magistrate. In a letter dated July 14 (Ref no 788/GENL/GNBD/PNHZP), Biswas labelled District Magistrate Verma's actions as ``unprecedented since the inception of the zoo in 1958''.

Biswas wrote: ``Your instructions to the treasury officer for non-clearance of any cheque from the P/L account (read zoo account) has caused a severe crisis in the zoo, where a lot of problems cropped up... Due to your inaction, the Meat and Fish Vendors' Association, Darjeeling, stopped supply of food to the zoo on July 5. Even the cheque of premium of LIC of the staff has been held up by you, thereby causing resentment among staff.''

The letter charged that the District Magistrate was holding up cheques for contractors' payment for development work, thereby creating a chaos and severe crisis in the management of the zoo. Biswas explained that grants-in-aid coming from various sources to the zoo are deposited in an account after a treasury form is first signed by the Director and countersigned by the DM.

In spite of following this procedure, the DM has not taken cognisance of a cheque amounting to Rs 17 lakh, Biswas complained. The amount was not credited to the zoo account and therefore, the suppliers could not be paid.

District Magistrate Verma scoffed at such charges saying: ``What to say to these? He is a mad man. He is a blatant liar. He does not know the Government's basic financial procedure. The treasury officers who scrutinise the bills must have found some flaws for which the zoo cheque was withheld,'' said Verma.

``But the more important fact is that where was the director when the problem cropped up on July 4 with the suppliers threatening to stop supply from 5th. He was missing for days together. Nobody in the zoo had the slightest idea of where he might have gone. I had to intervene and sort out the trouble with the suppliers,'' said Verma.

``It is because of his negligence that the snow leopard died in the zoo. All the problems the zoo is facing cannot be due to the non-signing of a single cheque by me. His own employees have gone on strike against him, zoo animals are dying. I do not know what is his interest in hanging around even after he is transferred. The sooner he hands over charge and lets the zoo alone, the better,'' said the District Magistrate.

Sources said the trouble began between the two over who should visit whom first. The Director, despite being asked for meetings at the DM's office through emissaries, reportedly refused to attend as he told in close circles that he was 10 years senior to the DM in the All India Service.``Why doesn't the DM talk to me directly,'' he wondered.

The DM, on the other hand, could very well do without the director, though by virtue of his post he is a member of the governing body of the Darjeeling zoo. But the DM reportedly kept himself away from most of the zoo governing body meetings as it was chaired by the Director.