BENGALURU: Karnataka frontline forest staff, including deputy Range Forest Officers (DRFO) and forest guards, are seeking better pay scales and pay parity with the staff of other departments. They plan to launch a sit-in protest from next month in front of Aranya Bhavan, Bengaluru.With the State failing to comply with the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal orders, the 5,000 odd staff have received the support of the All India Forest Officers’ Federation (AIFOF). Currently, the state forest department has 1,954 DRFOs and 2,937 forest guards.
The DRFOs and forest guards who are in the vanguard of protection of forests and wildlife are demanding pay parity with other state government departments since they have equivalent educational qualifications in the relevant cadre.In Karnataka, all frontline staff are paid less in comparison to same cadres in departments like the police, said a deputy range forest officer, adding, “In our neighbouring states, a DRFO gets 50 per cent more basic pay. We also do the same kind of policing work and we work day and night... so many have died in the line of duty.”
Recruitment to the cadre of DRFO is done on the basis of ‘Degree in science and forestry’. But the pay scale applicable to them is 10+2 level, they said. Therefore, a two star DRFO draws lesser salary than a police constable, while he is eligible for the salary of a Sub-Inspector. A forest staffer said, “We had filed a case in the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal and got a comprehensive judgment in December 2019.
A contempt case was filed against the state government as it failed to comply with the court order. However, till date, there has been no response from the government to the KAT order.” According to AIFOF, the most prominent demands of these cadre-based staff are ‘equal work – equal pay and facilities’ for range forest officer, deputy RFO, forest guard, forest watcher, mahout and Aane kavadis.