Maharashtra’s IFS Association to contribute Rs 5 lakh for Deepali Chavan’s household, seeks extra delicate, compassionate behaviour at office

MEMBERS of the Indian Forest Service (IFS) Association of Maharashtra have determined to gather Rs 5 lakh for the household of Harisal Range Forest Officer (RFO) Deepali Chavan, who died by suicide on March 26. Chavan had accused her superior officer, Deputy Conservator of Forest Vinod Shivkumar, of harassing her at work.
The affiliation members held a gathering right here on Friday, the place they expressed sympathy for the deceased RFO and stated all supervising officers ought to behave appropriately with their subordinates.
President of the Association N Vasudevan, who can be Managing Director of Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra, instructed The Indian Express, “All the members expressed deep sympathy for RFO Deepali Chavan and decided to together contribute at least Rs 5 lakh for her family.”

“Members were unanimous about the incident being an aberration. They felt that it should not have happened. The general opinion was that the DCF should have been more sensitive while conducting himself with Chavan in matters of official work. Members felt that not just Shivkumar but all the supervisory staff, IFS as well as non-IFS, should be more careful about their conduct while getting the works executed. This is an occasion to introsoect and develop more compassionate approach at workplace,” Vasudevan stated.
He added, “This episode should not be used to create IFS vs non-IFS feud. There is nothing like IFS vs non-IFS here.”On questions being raised in regards to the function of Melghat Field Director Srinivas Reddy in tackling the dispute between Chavan and Shivkumar, Vasudevan stated, “The Head of Forest Force has constituted a committee to investigate his failings, if any, among many other things. Some of the association members felt that it would be unfair to preclude that Reddy was also responsible for what happened.”
Asked if the incident can have a unfavourable affect on the connection between senior officers and junior staffers, thereby affecting work, Vasudevan stated, “Nobody thought so. Already, institutional mechanism is in place to deal with occasional problems. So, there shouldn’t be any problems for continuation of good work on the ground.”