COIMBATORE: In a move that has been hailed for its lack of political influence, 37 foresters across the State were promoted as forest range officers (FRO) on Monday. Principal chief conservator of forests R K Upadhyay issued the order as the officers qualified for the post on August 15, 2017.
Welcoming the order, Tamil Nadu Forest Staff Association Coimbatore branch president K Sivaprakasam said that this time the promotion had happened without the influence of political leaders. While they had sought the promotion of 62 foresters as FROs, considering the government would promote current FROs as assistant conservator of forests, six months ago, only 37 were issued the orders. Hence, they were preparing to request for the promotion of the remaining 25 foresters, besides seeking the elevation of 30 FROs,” noted Sivaprakasam.
However, there were complaints about the government delaying promotion of guards as foresters over the past five years. “A total of 482 guards, across the four tiger reserves and 12 other forest circles in the State, were yet to be promoted as foresters because of which detection of crime was at a snail’s pace. Though the government formed a committee based on the High Court order to promote these 482 guards as FROs, the process has been delayed,” he said.