Tiger protectors without pay for 6 months
12 Sept 2020
NAGPUR:
At a time when Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government is taking
several green initiatives, grants of Pench Tiger Reserve (PTR) have
been stuck with finance and forest ministries depriving salary to 99
Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) jawans for the past 6 months.
Of
the 99 field staff, 73 are forest guards and 26 are forest watchers. Of
the 99 employees, 62 have been transferred. The worst plight of these
employees is that as they have not received old salary, they will not
be paid at the new place of posting.
“Can you imagine our
plight? We protect rich natural wealth and now ourselves need economic
protection, especially during the Covid times,” said the staffers. The
last time when these field staffers were paid was 25% of the salary of
March. Since then, there is no salary for April, May, June, July and
August. They may also have to wait for this month as finance and forest
ministries are sitting over the files.
Pench deputy director
Amlendu Pathak said, “We have submitted proposal to the forest ministry
for release of grants in July, but it has not been released yet.”
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