Ajinkyabankar

Late Sanjay Kumar Singh IFS was an Indian civil servant belonging to the Indian Forest Service who laid down his life for the cause of environment and forest conservation as well as local people in Sasaram district of Bihar, India. Along with Late P. Srinivas,IFS(Karnataka cadre), Late Sanjay Kumar Singh is a source of inspiration for foresters all over the India.<ref>"Memorial Lecture of Late Sanjay Kumar Singh IFS".</ref

Early life

Late Sanjay Kumar Simgh was born on 13th September, 1967 at Belhami Jairam village of district Sitamarhi, Bihar to Dr. Ghanshyam Narain Singh and Dr. Kanti Singh(This proud parents eagerly wait only day in a year i.e. Feb 15 , when they travel to attend *Late Sanjay Kumar Singh Memorial Lecture at IGNFA, Dehradun to memorize their beloved son and inspire the Probationer IFS officers to walk the path of honesty, service and principled-life adhered to by their martyr son) . The only son of his parents, he was married to Anupriya Singh in 1996 and blesses with a daughter, Onal and a son, Samrath. Shri Sanjay Singh completed his senior secondary from Netarhat Public School,Bihar in 1982 with first division and awarded gold as well as silver medals for merit and for outstanding performance in debate. After schooling, he joined prestigious Science College, Patna and completed Intermediate with Science in 1984 and added more gold medals in debate, sports and drama. He did B.Tech in Textile Engineering from IIT, Delhi, and Masters in computer Applications(MCA) from JNU, New Delhi. He ranked first in the entrance exam held for MCA in JNU.

Service

Late Sanjay K Singh stared his service career as Management trainee in HCL for a brief period of one year before joining INDIAN FOREST SERVICE (IFS). He qualified for IFS in 1991 and joined Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy(IGNFA), Dehradun in 1992 along with 1992-1994 Course. At IGNFA, he displayed meritorious performance by securing several gold and silver medals for extraordinary achievements in various disciplines besides, receiving Sulochana Naidu Memorial Medal for outstanding performance in co-curricular activities. A large number of gold, silver, bronze medals and trophies, which he won right from school stage to IGNFA, Dehradun in various walks of life is a testimony to his whole some and holistic personality. Sanjay K. Singh was allotted to the Bihar state cadre. He was first posted as [Forest Officer(DFO)] in Garhawa Forest Division, from where he started his field career. He did exemplary work in checking illegal mining and collection of Tendu leaves in the division. He was uncompromising on basic principles, which can be seen from the fact that he lodged number of FIRs against offenders, including administrative officials, despite tremendous pressure from various corners. At the same time, he also paid special attention to generate employment for poor people under various afforestation and other development projects. However, within a span of one and half year, he was transferred to Hazaribagh and afterwards as Divisional Forest Officer(DFO), Sahabad, Sasaram in Dec 2000.

A man of challenges

The sahabad division was notorious for the illegal stone quarrying, tree felling, illegal trade of forest produce and forest encroachment. The problem of illegal mining in around Sasaram was colossal. It surfaced about 30 years ago but acquired mammoth dimensions over the period. There were about 300 stone crushers operating on the both the sides of the Grand Trunk Road near Karbandia, about 5 kilometers from the district headquarters of Sasaram. The total production of stone crushers was worth of Rs. 25lakhs a day, which comes around at Rs.91 crores a year, causing huge revenue loss to the government. After his posting as DFO Sasaram on December 11, 2000, he launched a massive operation against stone quarrying mafia and smugglers indulging in illegal trade of forest products. To check illegal mining, he used to patrol the sensitive areas frequently. On 30th Jan, 2002, a group of villagers under the influence of the stone quarrying mafia, pelted stones on the patrolling party led by him. Sanjay Kumar Singh also acted appropriately to restore 4000 acres of forest land which was otherwise encroached for agricultural activities. His contribution for the improvement of socio-economic conditions of the tribal and poor people and sensitivity towards his subordinates was exemplary.

Encounter with forest resource mafias and anti-social elements

On 13th February 2002, Sanjay Kumar Singh came to know about the misbehavior with his Forest Guard, Shri Ganesh Pandey by some anti social elements in Parchha Village. Next day, he rushed to the spot. On his way, he also captured one tractor of Kalyuanpur Cement Factory, which was carrying illegal stones. Sanjay Kumar Singh held a meeting with villagers and advised them to unite and oppose such antisocial persons. He stayed overnight in Forest Rest House, Rohtash and proceeded on 15th Feb,2002 to inspect the construction work of Akbarpur Dhansa Road, which was built recently.

Martyrdom

On the fateful day of 15th Feb, 2002, during the inspection, he reached Rehal Range Office and the moment he arrived at the office, some armed men in police dress asked him to stop. All the forest officials including the unarmed bodyguard of DFO raised the hands. The leader of gang started questioning Sanjay Kumar Singh and other forest officials about their post, name, etc. The leader started demanding money in the form of commission from Sanjay Kumar Singh for road being constructed. He denied firmly to give even a penny and requested them to visit the road constructed to ascertain the quality of work as per the prescribed norms and estimates of the construction work of road and further intimate him about the lapses in the quality of work, if any. The leader of the armed gang started accusing Sanjay Kumar Singh that he was against the poor because he had sealed several stone crusher machines due to which several villagers became unemployed. Sanjay Kumar Singh instantly opposed it and clarified that he was only against the illegal mining, which was benefitting mafia and smugglers, causing huge loss to the government as well as environmental degradation. He also explained that he had given lease for stone quarrying to village committees which will benefit the village directly. Sajay Kumar Singh had constituted a committee of villages from 14 villages under Joint Forest Management(JFM) and granted them lease for stone quarrying on sustainable basis.

After a heated exchange of argument and counter-argument, villagers of Parchha village including children and women came to Range Office and requested the armed persons to leave the DFO because he was working to uplift the life of villagers. Such goodwill was the result of the initiative taken by Forest Department under the guidance of Sanjay Kumar Singh in providing employment to the village through construction of road, school buildings and primary health centers. When villagers started protesting against armed men, they started firing to disperse villagers and tied the hands of DFO Sanjay Kumar Singh and separated him from other forest officials. The armed men forced Sanjay Kumar Singh to move into forest and after some forest officials heard the sound of firing. This led to the end of life of an honest and courageous forest officer.

The aftermath: At around 2 P.M. the news of abduction and killing of DFO Sasaram spread. Police reached the spot along with forest officials at around 7 P.M. in the evening and recovered the body of DFO Sanjay Kumar Singh. After post mortem, he was cremated with the state honour in Patna. Such rare display of the act of honesty, bravery, courage and conviction by late Sanjay Kumar Singh was widely acclaimed by national and international media. The day after murder of Sanjay Kumar Singh, there was a self-imposed bandh in Sasaram. Communication network like railway and roads were blocked by the local people. The students of schools and colleges organized a tribute march in Sasaram. The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, just on the next day of his martyrdom took suo moto notice of this ghastly act and asked the Solicitor General of India to act as Amicus Curie in the case of this brutal killing of a Senior Forest Officer of Bihar.

In Memory

To immortalize the memory of late Sanjay Kumar Singh, the Sanjay Kumar Singh Memorial Trust(SKSMT), a registered non-profit public charitable trust has been found in fond memory of young, energetic, honest, brave and courageous IFS officer. The broad objective of this trust is to support the activities related to the cause of protection of forest and environment. In addition to this, the following programmes/activities have been undertaken in recognition of his supreme sacrifice:

• A Govt. college in Kaimur district is named after DFO Sanjay Kumar Singh as Shahid Kumar Singh, Bhabhua.
• A park at Sasaram has been named as Shaheed Sanjay Kumar Singh Memorial Park
• Sahara TV telecasted a TV serial named EK THA SANJAY on the life and work done by IFS officer Sanjay Kumar Singh to inculcate the values of Sanjay Kumar Singh in public for better tomorrow.
• Star TV also telecasted a serial based on the story published in MAHANAGAR KAHANIYAN, April 2002 issue titled IS JUNGLE ME THA EK SHER.
• State level organizations, media and associations spontaneously conferred title of ‘SHAHEED’ to Sanjay Kumar Singh.
• A book entitled ‘Disaster Management In Hills’, authored by Dr. Satyendra,IFS is dedicated to Shaheed Sanjay Kumar Singh and royalty of this book goes to the account of the Sanjay Kumar Singh Memorial Trust.
• An oil portrait of Sanjay Kumar Singh has been installed at IGNFA along with several gold, silver and other medals won by Shri Sanjay Kumar Singh. These medals are donated by his parents to IGNFA to perpetuate his memory.
• Late Sanjay Kumar Singh Memorial Lecture is organised every at IGNFA, Dehradun.
• Late Sanjay Kumar Singh Memorial Gold medal is being awarded every year to the IFS Probationers who rank first in the subject of Forest Management and Environment Conservation.

Yet there is a firm belief in the forest fraternity that his supreme sacrifice and principles upheld by late Sanjay Kumar Singh will continue to inspire and motivate foresters at various levels for selfless protection and conservation of forests for the mankind.

References

Category:1967 births Category:2002 deaths Category:Indian foresters Category:Murder in 2002 Category:People from Sasaram Category:People murdered in Bihar Category:IIT,Delhi alumni