SHILLONG: The forest department has justified the re-trenching of as many as 225 un-armed forest home guards personnel who were recruited way back in 1994.
The services of the forest home guard personnel were terminated from July 1 and they had threatened to cut down trees if they are not paid Rs 10 lakh to sustain their families.
The principal chief conservator of forest S. Kumar said on Wednesday that the department was compelled to re-trench the employees due to the financial constraints.
According to Kumar, the monthly remuneration of the forest guards is Rs 9,100 each and the financial burden on the part of the Government is over Rs 2.40 crore per year in terms of their contractual wages.
He said that for a very long time, the wages were paid from state’s own resources and gradually, the State Government due to its financial constraints was not in a position to pay their wages.
“We had taken up the matter with 12th and 13th Finance Commissions for providing funds to the Government”, Kumar said.
He said out of the Rs 42 crore granted by the Finance Commission for various needs of the forest department, only Rs 31 crore was released.
He added that for the years 2013-14 and also for 2014-15, the Finance Commission had not provided any fund.
The forest official also said that the un-armed forest home guards were found to be ineffective at a time when there is spurt in the violent activities of armed militants in Garo Hills. Moreover, the home guards department could not provide armed home guard personnel to guard the forest.
Kumar also said that that there has always been a friction between workers under muster rolls who get Rs 4,800 per month and forest home guards who get Rs 9,100 per month as they were doing the same job and this dissatisfaction led to administrative problems.