Forest workers suspend work, stage protest in Bengaluru

As the incidents of forest fire continue to threaten forest patches across Karnataka, about 3,000 daily wage workers attached to the Karnataka Forest Department (KFD) have gone on strike pressing for various demands affecting the daily conservation work across Karnataka.

Hundreds of daily wage workers on Tuesday boycotted the work and staged a protest in front of Aranya Bhavan – the headquarters of KFD in Malleshwaram. The workers had descended on the Freedom Park and held a rally on Monday. As there was no desired response from the department, the workers decided to storm the Aranya Bhavan. However, the protesting workers were prevented by the City Police.

AM Nagaraj, State President of the KFD Daily Wage Employees Association told DH that workers have not been paid salaries for the last 4 to 5 months in a row. "If there is any crisis inside the forest, it is these daily wage workers who risk their lives to protect the flora and fauna. Yet, they do not get paid for their work. There are more than 3,000 workers and half of them have gone on strike," Nagaraj explained.

Besides the release of pending salaries, the workers demanded the withdrawal of orders on appointing outsourced employees. "Until 2017, we were directly hired by the department. But since then all of us have been attached to an external agency and there is no transparency in the payment. Workers are not provided with PF and ESI facilities. While each of the workers is supposed to get Rs 511 per day, they are actually paid Rs 300. The government must also introduce a shift system in the work," Nagaraju explained.

However, another association of the daily wage workers did not support the protest even though they demanded the state government address their demands. "The problem is at the district level and triggered by the Range Forest Officer (RFO) rank officers. We need to resolve it at the district level and there is no point in protesting in Bengaluru," remarked Hinchavalli Shankarappa HK, President of another organisation.

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