TURA: 225 Forest Home Guard Volunteers, whose services were terminated on July 1 without any prior notification, have threatened to cut down trees from reserved forests in Garo Hills and sell them as timber to sustain their families if government fails to pay them Rs 10 lakh as ‘life security’.
All these forest guards were recruited in 1994.
In a statement issued here, the aggrieved Forest Home Guard personnel lamented the fact that although they had rendered their services to the department sincerely and with dedication for 20 years the department chose to terminate their services immediately after clearing their long pending and remaining monthly salaries.
“When the Forest Department recruited us we were assured that our services would be regularized and made permanent within six months or a year at the most. We were also assured that a forest battalion would be created,” the aggrieved
former employees said.
While the former employees asserted that they were not too much disappointment by the termination of their services they demanded that a lump sum amount of Rs 10 Lakhs is given to them by the department as life security for abruptly cutting off their life line without prior notification.
“Until and unless Rs 10 lakh is given as life security we will be forced cut down trees from reserved Forests in Garo Hills and sell them as timber to maintain our families,” the statement said.