Frontline staff in tiger reserves not paid for 3-7 months

Frontline staff in two tiger reserves have not been paid for several months as lack of funds has hit the operations at a time when Karnataka is staring at the peak of the forest fire season.

Official sources said the frontline staff in Biligiri Ranganathaswamy Temple (BRT) Tiger Reserve have not been paid since August 2022.

Exigency funds used

In Kali Tiger Reserve, the staffers have not been paid for three months. The other reserves have been spending funds from Tiger Foundation, meant for exigency, to avoid a crisis. But officials are not sure whether the funds will be reimbursed.

However, lower tourist footfall in Kali and BRT means the Foundation funds are too small to provide for such expenses.

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"This is a serious issue considering that we are in the middle of the fire season. The frontline staff are the real saviours of forests in times of fire. Making them work without pay for seven months will naturally demotivate them. The matter is of great concern for BRT reserve, where the dry deciduous forest poses special challenges," a senior official said.

Frontline staff play a crucial role in creating fire lines, keeping a constant watch on the forest as well as anti-poaching activities.

The three reserves in the south engage hundreds of temporary fire watchers for three to five months to avoid catastrophe.

In 2019, lack of preparedness had led to the gutting of 12,000 acres of forest in Bandipur.

As per the rule, tiger reserves have to submit an annual plan of operation (APO) giving estimates of the expenses to be incurred in the financial year ahead.

The approval by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) paves way for availing funds from the Centre and state, each of which contribute 50%.

Centre's new procedure

However, the union finance ministry's revised procedure for release of funds for the centrally sponsored schemes, which came into effect from July 2021, has led to a crisis with none of the five tiger reserves in Karnataka, receiving funds for the whole of last year.

"The confusion created by the new rule has led to a crisis. Besides the lack of central funds, the lack of approval for the annual estimates means the state also can't decide on its share to be released," an official said.

Interestingly, even though the APOs of Kali and Nagarahole reserves were approved recently, no funds have been received.

"We are just hours away from the union budget. But the funds for last year are yet to be released," a conservationist said.

During the NTCA meeting held in Bandipur, a frontline staff had appealed to Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav for help and one official had even cautioned that keeping frontline staff disgruntled was not the best strategy for conservation.

"There has been a delay. The state has released some emergency funds. We will ask for more, if the Centre does not release them. We have received a message that the central funds will come soon," government sources said.