Fifty-seven casual employees of Namdapha National Park and Tiger Reserve, India’s easternmost tiger reserve in Arunachal Pradesh, have been reinstated three months after their services were terminated.
Their reinstatement under Project Tiger through an order on August 13, however, came with some conditions.
The order issued by Field Director V.K. Jaswal said the “engagement” of the 57, including 22 women and some ex-servicemen, was following the approval of the annual operation plan of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) for the 2024-25 fiscal and was “contingent on the timely release of funds”.
The order also said their engagement was valid until March 31, 2025.
“The engagement is liable to be discontinued at any time without prior notice or assigning any reason thereof. The engagement shall not confer any right on the incumbent for regular employment to any post under this department,” the order read.
Covering 1,985 sq. km of the Changlang district bordering Myanmar, Namdapha has been a difficult tiger reserve to protect mainly due to poaching and logging, often from people from across the international border.
The reinstated 57 were recruited under the NTCA’s Project Tiger during 2023-24 to strengthen the efforts to conserve the big striped cat and other fauna of the vulnerable park. They were laid off through a termination order on May 1 from the State’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife and Biodiversity), citing funds constraints.
The termination led to a series of protests by the sacked workers and their families, leading to their reinstatement.
The Namdapha Tiger Reserve faced a similar situation in July 2019 when the services of 53 frontline staff, all casual employees, were discontinued. The reason was the NTCA’s failure to provide funds for their wages during the 2018-19 fiscal.
Namdapha, named after a river meandering through it, was declared India’s 15th Tiger Reserve in 1983, the very year it was elevated to a national park from a wildlife sanctuary.
Published - August 15, 2024 04:57 pm IST
