Goemkarponn Desk
NETRAVALI: About sixty Forest Department daily wage workers at Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary have begged for the regularization of their employment, stating that their current pay is insufficient to cover their families’ daily expenses.
The Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary employs people as drivers, lifeguards, rescuers, and gardeners, some of whom are female.
The employees have continued to provide their services in spite of the pitiful compensation—some of them for as long as 12 years—in the hopes that one day their work will be paid on a regular basis.
Depending on the capacity in which they are employed, some of the irate workers claimed they receive wages ranging from Rs 405 to Rs 544 per day.
The Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary employs a large majority of people from Netravali and the nearby villages.
One employee said, “The proximity to the workplace was the only reason we were fascinated to work at the Netravali Wildlife Sanctuary.”
Now that we are married, some of us have families to take care of. With the rising costs of everyday household necessities, the meager pay at the end of the month without any extra benefits is barely enough to get by. In order to get by, we occasionally need to borrow money from friends and family.
They assert that employees put in twenty-four hours a week and receive just over Rs 10,000 at the end of the pay period.
“We have no benefits of leave or other holidays, so if for any reason we are found absent from work, the wages stands deducted even more,” the worker stated.
“We have made a request to the authorities to regularize our services. Every time we approach them about regularizing our services, they only offer an assurance.
Even though they receive pitiful pay, many laborers have dangerous jobs because they frequently have to patrol the forests to keep an eye out for poachers and other illicit activity.
