Sacked forest home guards threaten hunger strike

TURA: The 225 forest Home Guard personnel, who were recently discharged from service without any prior notification being given by the department, have threatened to resort to a hunger strike in front of the Meghalaya State Secretariat in Shillong if their appeal for re-deployment is not met.
It may be reminded that the discharged employees had staged a picketing of all three Forest offices in Tura – Divisional Forest Territorial Office, District Commandant Civil Defence and Home Guard Office and Conservator of Forest Wildlife Territorial Office on August 26 and 27 demanding their re-deployment which was not entertained.
Earlier, on August 8 a family rally was also organized by the employees, which too failed to evoke any response from the concerned department.
Frustrated over the apathetic attitude of the concerned authorities the aggrieved employees have warned of taking the extreme step if the department continues to remain unresponsive to their demands.