Forest Department workers protest delay in salaries, seek regular jobs

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 3

Members of the Forest Department Workers’ Union staged a protest in front of the office of the district Forest Department in Thermal Colony here on Tuesday.

Accusing the state government and the Forest Minister of not fulfulling their demands, the protesters raised slogans against them.

Addressing a gathering during the protest, president of the union Amritpal Singh said, “The department has not disbursed salary on time and it has not fulfilled the long-pending demand for regularisation of contractual workers’ services. Moreover, there are workers who have been rendering their services in the department for the past several years, but they have not been given promotions.”

“Moreover, our demand for the implementation of the Punjab Ad Hoc Contractual, Daily Wages, Temporary, Work Charged and Outsourced Employees’ Welfare Act, 2016, is not met yet. We also demand that the old pension scheme must be revived and the EPF scheme must also be implemented. We have submitted a memorandum of demands to officials of the Forest Department. If our demands are not fulfilled, we will submit another representation to the state head office in Mohali on December 9. Besides, a statewide protest will be held on December 15,” he added.