Nagpur News : The Maharashtra State Forest Employees and Forest Labour Union and the Maharashtra State Forest Guards and Promoted Forester’s Union led by MLA Ajay Patil of Nationalist Congress Party held a meeting with the Additional Principal chief Conservator P N Munde and Chief Conservator of Forest (Administration) Yashbir Singh to put forth their demands of permanent and temporary workers on March 3, 2014.
Some of the issues that they raised in the meeting included.
- Demand to make temporary labourers who are working for the last 20 years in the Forest Department under the Employment Guarantee scheme, permanent in government service.
- Those daily wages workers who are qualified for the post of forest employee have not been employed by the forest department. They should be employed in the forest department as soon as possible.
- Those forest employees who are working on daily wages who have been issued orders of permanent forest employee from 1.6.2012, should be given brought under pension benefits assuming that they have been working from 30. 6. 2004.
- A notification to the effect of change in nomenclature of permanent forest labourer as Forest Staff.
- Pension to the next of kin of all those daily wage forest workers who have worked for 240 days continuously per year from the period after 30.6.2004 and have passed away. The next of kin to be given employment on daily wages till he or she gets a suitable job on compassionate grounds.
- Those forest workers who are metric passed and are working in forest department, such workers to be given the job of forest guard or clerical job in forest department.
- Those forest employees who have become permanent in Forest Department for the last 12 years, to be given assured time-bound promotions and arrears of their salary with retrospective effect.
- That the forest guard / forest ranger should be paid at par with the police and the revenue department.
They have also demanded that they be according to the Sixth Pay Commission. They alleged that injustice has been meted out to the forest rangers and guards for the last 20 years.
MLA Ajay Patil who expressed his passion and sympathies for the forest employees said that they have been denied a lot of basic amenities and facilities even to perform their duties. Like they are not armed, which makes them susceptible to Naxals or wild animals. MLA Ajay Patil alleged that the government has been ignoring their demands for a very long time and if their grievances are not addressed soon, they
