Forest department taking measures to fill up 920 posts

Sources in the Department said majority of the vacant posts are that of forest guards. Apart from the 863 posts for which appointments were made recently, 800 more posts of the guards have remained vacant and applications have been invited for them.  

When asked if there are no takers for these jobs, Minister for Forests C H Vijayashankar said the response was, on the contrary, “overwhelming.”

He said: “We are processing these applications. Lack of funds is also delaying the recruitment process. Besides, there are very few resource persons to train the forest guards in the training colleges of the State.”

The Department has only six forest officials’ training institutes across the State.
The forest officials said the department is also trying to fill the posts of 120 forest officials under the Indian Forest Services cadre for which the Central government has given green signal.

Unemployed students

On the issue of the forestry students who have remained jobless for quite a while now, Vijayashankar said a high-level committee under the chairmanship of Additional Principal Secretary Meera Saxena has been constituted to look into the matter.

The committee will comprise vice-chancellors of the Bangalore University and Dharwad University, principal secretary of the Law Ministry and secretaries of the Finance Department and the Higher Education Department .

As many as 1,200 Forestry graduates are waiting for the job as the Government has promised recruitment norms favouring them.