COIMBATORE: The Tamil Nadu Forest Staff Association alleged that in stark contrast to police personnel, the state government does not provide solatium to the kin of forest department staff who died while on duty hours. They pointed out that even after the death of a 32-year-old forest guard, who was the sole breadwinner of his family in a road accident at Dindigul three weeks ago, the state government have not made any announcement to provide solatium to his wife and two kids. The forest staff members across the state crowd-funded Rs 7 lakh and deposited the amount in the account of the deceased’s children.
The deceased V Ramasamy, a resident of Chindaiyankottai, was working as a forest beat guard in Sengadampatti under the Kannivadi forest range in the Dindigul forest division. On November 20, Ramasamy was returning on his bike to his house at Koolampatti Pirivu on the Sempatti-Vathalakundu National Highway, along with his relative Arun Pandian (17) and an acquaintance Arvind Pandian, both of whom were riding pillion. While plying along Sempatti, a truck moving at a high speed hit the two-wheeler from behind, killing all three. On Saturday, the team led by S Karthikeyan, who is the president of Tamil Nadu Forest Staff Association met the deceased’s wife R Valliand, and handed over the cash to their son R Dinesh Kumar (8) and daughter R Bhuvana (3). “We have also sought the senior forest department official’s help to issue funds. However, nothing has been done so far. The government should immediately release the solatium,” he said.
“Likewise, the state has not provided solatium to C Chandru, who died on duty at the Pollachi forest range in Anamalai Tiger Reserve (ATR) in May 2020. The family of Ramasamy is destitute and his wife has to take care of their two children,” said Karthikeyan.
He added, “Chief Minister MK Stalin announced Rs 25 lakh solatium to the kin of constable K Paranthaman (39) who died in a road accident. Likewise, 25 lakh was given to the kin of Head Constable A Sridhar (45) who used to work at Ariyamangalam traffic police station. However, no solatium is being given to the kin of forest department staff.”
When TNIE tried to reach out to Principal Secretary to Government, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Forests P Senthil Kumar, he was unavailable for comment.