In a comical incident on Wednesday, Telangana’s Forest Minister Jogu Ramanna left officials and police personnel puzzled after he went ‘missing’ for close to an hour in a forest in Narsapur.

The Minister, along with deputy speaker Padmadevender Reddy was accompanied by forest officials when he went to the Narsapur forest, which is said to be one of the largest forests in the state.

Ramanna went there to flag off the state government's 'Haritha Haram' project, which aims to increase the green cover in Telangana.

The Minister and the officials planted a few saplings a few km away from the main road and highway.

While everyone, including the deputy speaker, made their way back to the lunch venue, the Minister reportedly lost his way.

The local media reported that the officials were anxious about the Minister’s disappearance, and were scanning the entire area to locate him.

The Deccan Chronicle reported that the Collector and a few officials took one route, while Ramanna, local MLA Madan Reddy and some officials decided to take another route, following which they lost their way.

As it is a large and dense forest, the mobile connectivity was low. Officials and public representatives who had accompanied the Minister, had lost their mobile signals, which made the hour-long ‘search operation’ much more difficult, The Hindu reported.