The Madhya Pradesh government has removed senior IFS officer Jasbir Singh Chauhan from the position of Principal Chief Conservation of Forest (Wildlife).

Chouhan, a 1987 batch IFS has been replaced by Aseem Shrivastava, who was Principal Chief Conservation of Forest (production), a notification issued by the forest department of the government said on Monday .

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“Jasvir Singh Chauhan has been transferred as principal chief conservator of forest (production) while Indian Forest Services (IFS) officer Aseem Shrivastava has been appointed as the new chief wildlife warden,” said the government order without giving reasons for his transfer.

Notably, the PCCF wildlife is also the chief wildlife warden (CWLW) of the state and is the top boss of the wildlife division of the forest department. The development came amid scrutiny over the frequent deaths of cheetahs at Kuno National Park (KNP).

Chauhan, a highly respected officer with an expertise in wildlife conservation, is considered as the architect of KNP. Earlier, serving as divisional forest officer of KNP, Chouhan was key in the introduction of Asiatic Gir lions, which was put on the back-burner following the legal battle in the Supreme court.

Sources in the MP forest department told IANS that some more forest officials associated with KNP are likely to be replaced in coming days as the Union Environment and Forest Ministry wasn’t happy.

As many as eight cheetahs, including three borne to a Namibian female cheetah ‘Siyaya’ have died in a period of five months, raising questions on the management of ‘project cheetah’ in Madhya Pradesh.

On Sunday, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the nodal agency of ‘project cheetah’ had termed the deaths of cheetahs – ‘Tejas’ and ‘Suraj’ as natural and said, “Project Cheetah is yet to complete a year and it will be premature to conclude the outcome in terms of success and failure since cheetah introduction is a long- term project.”

However, a day later, the top officer of the wildlife division in the state forest department was shifted, indicating that his role might not have been satisfactory.

Ajay Dubey, a Bhopal-based wildlife activist, who had been demanding shifting of Chauhan and has in fact written to the Centre and MP government, said the action to shift Chauhan was right, but came late.

“Since the cheetahs were released at Kuno, I have been raising this issue. Replacing Jasvir Singh Chouhan was a much needed step, but some more top rank officials also should be replaced immediately. Cheetah in-charge of KNP Uttam Sharma and the director of the Satpura National Park L. Krishnamoorthy, where the beheading of a tiger in the core area caused controversy recently, should also be replaced,” Dubey added.