Tirupati: Outsourced Forest staff demand job security

Tirupati: The outsourced employees working in various wings of the Forest department staged a protest here on Monday demanding payment of the salaries pending since month of March. They also sought the government to absorb them in the newly set up Andhra Pradesh Corporation for Outsourced Services (APCOS) for employment security and prompt payment of salary. Speaking on the occasion, Forest Department Outsourcing Employees Association president P Kartik said that the outsourced employees working in the Forest department as computer operators, drivers, base camp watchers, check post watchers and Strike Force watchers facing

difficulty in maintaining their families as they have not got the salary for four months from March to June. The prevailing pandemic situation adding more to the woes of employees, he said. The employees, who have completed 15-20 years facing an element of uncertainty on the continuation of their services with the authorities tight lipped on taking them under the newly set up APCOS, he said and demanded for merger of all the 200 employees working in the various

wings of Forest department in Tirupati circle with APCOS.

They appealed to the ministers and MLAs from the district to take up their case with the government for fulfilling the demands including payment of pending salaries and absorption in APCOS. The Association leaders later submitted a representation to Conservator of Forests, Tirupati, Saravanan, who assured to send their demands to the government for consideration.