Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, May 20: The fight for Caronavirus gets tougher for the families of over 2500 employees working in Jammu and Kashmir Forest Corporation as the Corporation has failed to pay their salaries since March this year.
The employees accused the Corporation of inflicting miseries on their families by withholding their salaries. “My pockets have dried up, and I am unable to make ends meet. The cold response of authorities is taking a toll on our families,” Mohammad Maqbool Ganie, an employee of the Corporation told Excelsior. He added: “We have no money to buy essentials. The money lenders have turned their backs at us.”
The employees lamented that they are unable to pay off all their debts as their savings have exhausted. “Some of us even sold the jewelry of our wives to run the families. Others have got into debt,” another employee said.
There are around 2500 employees working with the Corporation and nobody has received a salary since March this year. The Jammu and Kashmir State Forest Corporation was established as per the provisions of the Act, which was enacted in the year 1978 to ensure better preservation, supervision and development of forests and better exploitation of forest produce within the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has repealed the Act as a whole. Immediately after the repeal of the Act, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir was supposed to decide the fate of the Forest Corporation, which was established as per the provisions of Section 3 of the Act of 1978. But the decision of the Government is awaited as a result the Corporation is functioning without any legal provision.
“The indecisiveness has caused the delay in the salaries of the employees. But we have taken up the matter with the concerned officials and the issues would be resolved soon,” Managing Director of the Corporation, Vasu Yadav, told Excelsior.
Meanwhile, the employees have requested the Lt Governor, G C Murmu, to intervene into the matter.
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