Patiala, July 30:- As per the decision of the state committee of the Forest Workers Union Punjab, the leading organization of forest workers affiliated to Punjab Subordinate Services Federation (1406/22B), Chandigarh, a massive protest was held in front of the offices of the Forest Division Patiala and Wildlife Division Patiala today as part of a series of submission of a memorandum to the government from July 27 to 30.
This protest was organized under the chairmanship of Division President Jaswinder Singh Sauja, Sher Singh Sirhind, Jagtar Singh Sahpur, Bhupinder Singh Sadhoheri and Joga Singh Wajidpur. Despite the intense heat, a large number of forest workers joined the protest with flags, banners and slogans.
Addressing the protest, Punjab Subordinate Services Federation leaders Darshan Singh Belumajra, Lakhwinder Singh Khanpur, Jasvir Singh Khokhar, Dharampal Singh Lot and Rajpal Singh Lasoi said that the Punjab government is not regularizing the workers who have been serving in the Forest and Wildlife Department for 30 years. They alleged that making a mere placement policy and making them work on a monthly salary of only Rs 15,000 till the age of 58 is a cruel joke on the forest workers.
The leaders said that the daily wage workers of the department have not received their salaries for the last five months, due to which their families are in financial crisis. They said that the government, which made big promises to the people, could not regularize a single worker of the Forest Department during its nearly four-year tenure, due to which there is huge resentment and disappointment among the workers.
After the protest, a memorandum was sent to the Punjab government through the Forest Guard (IFS) South Circle Patiala, Deputy Commissioner Patiala, Forest Divisional Officer Wildlife Patiala and Forest Divisional Officer Patiala.
The union leaders warned that if the pending salaries of the workers of the Forest and Wildlife Department were not released soon, the raw workers who have been serving for a long time were not regularized, the workers with 10 consecutive years of service were not regularized, the seniority list was not released by the year 2026 and other demands were not resolved, then a protest demonstration would be held at Van Bhawan, Mohali on August 10.
They announced that after this, a state-level massive protest would be held in the constituency of Finance Minister Punjab, Dirba, on August 17 and a permanent morcha would be started there. They said that this struggle would continue until the legitimate demands of the forest workers were resolved.
A large number of forest workers including Naresh Kumar Bosar, Bhinder Ghagga, Gurmail Bammana, Amarjit Singh Lachharu Kalan, Jaswant Singh, Ranveer Mulepur, Gurdev Kaur, Gurmail Singh Bishanpura, Shamsher Asmanpur, Inderjit Kaur Chupki, Jasvir Kaur, Kuldeep Singh, Hakam Khan, Sadiq Khan, Jagpal Singh, Budh Singh, Jagtar Sudhewal, Satnam Singh Sauja, Sabdil Singh Kuki, Karnail Kathamathi, Gurjit Singh Patiala, Singara Singh Kathamathi, Kuldeep Kaur, Paramjit Kaur, Mangewal, Pali Devi, Manjit Kaur Samana were present in this protest.