Students of the Forest College and Research Institute at Mettupalayam near here have said that they are going to surrender their identity cards on Wednesday as part of their ongoing protest seeking reservation in employment in the forest department.
They are demanding 45 per cent reservation for B.Sc. Forestry graduates and M.Sc. Forestry graduates in recruitment to the posts of Forest Rangers and Assistant Conservator of Forests respectively.
Further, the association said that the post of forest extension officer should be created and filled by forestry graduates to fulfil the agro forestry-related needs of farmers.
In a press release issued here, they claimed that despite nearly three decades having elapsed since the college was established by Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), not even a single forestry graduate had been recruited so far to the post of Forest Range Officer (FRO)