Early Times Report
Jammu, May 9: The scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir State Forest Corporation Act 1978 has put a question mark over the fate of 2500 employees of the Corporation. These employees have been without salaries for the past two months and they are finding it hard to make their ends meet.
The Government of India on March 31, 2020 had issued a gazette notification stating that “in exercise of the powers conferred by section 96 of Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization Act 20199 (34 of 2019) the Jammu and Kashmir State Forest Corporation Act 1978 stands repealed.”
After repealing of the Act, the SFC had to be put under a new framework to manage its affairs. “The new arrangement has not been worked out due to some unknown reasons till date,” the SFC employees told Early Times.
They said that had the decision to repeal the corporation come in the first week of April they would have received their salary at least for the month of March. “The timing of the decision led to the salaries being withheld for both the months,” the employees added.
“On one hand the lockdown has been extended and on the other we have been denied the salaries. We are suffering for none of our faults,” the SFC employees said.
“Usually expenditure in the month of Ramadan increases. But we have been left to fend on our own in this holy month,” said one of the employees.
“Till the government puts a new system in place the salary of the employees should be disbursed. It can be done by taking a nod from the administration,” they said. Despite repeated attempts Managing Director SFC, Vasu Yadav, didn’t pick up the phone for his version.
Managing director SFC Vasu Yadav said that both thee issues viz-a-viz the salary of employees as well as future arrangement of SFC, have been proceeded simultaneously. ‘We are in the final stages of decision making’, he said. |
