Guwahati: Forest minister Jayanta Mallabaruah on Monday directed department officials to seal revenue leakages and has warned of strict action against any corrupt practices in transfer and posting of the department’s employees.The minister said no forest department employee can serve more than three years at one place of posting, and therefore, has directed the principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF), head of forest force (HoFF) and the special chief secretary to initiate steps to identify those who served more than three years at one place of posting.The minister chaired a high-level review meeting of the department at the Assam Administrative Staff College in Khanapara.Speaking at the meeting, the minister made corruption in the department the centrepiece of his address, and issued a warning against the practice of transferring officials in exchange for money.“In the past, transfers and postings in preferred places were carried out against payments ranging from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 60 lakh. This practice is unacceptable and must end. Exempting some employees under certain unavoidable conditions, no employee can serve at a particular place of posting for more than three years,” he added.Underlining the importance of rotation and accountability, the minister said that personnel from territorial divisions may be transferred to wildlife wings as part of regular duty assignments, signalling a more flexible and need-based deployment policy going forward.He also turned the spotlight on how administrative pressure to meet royalty revenue targets has rippled down through the department, often resulting in harassment of ordinary citizens through arbitrary fines.The minister cautioned that officials at various levels of the administration must not allow revenue targets to become a pretext for penalising people, and called for a review of irregularities in revenue collection practices.He informed that the department has earned Rs 781 crore as revenue in 2025-26, of which Rs 177 crore was collected in the sixth scheduled areas and Rs 604 was collected from the forest of non-sixth scheduled areas.The review meeting was convened to take stock of forest management and conservation work across Assam, with divisional officials presenting their progress reports.
