Tarun Karthick
Port Blair, 26 August 2023
In a show of unity and determination, members of the Andaman & Nicobar Forest Department Workers Union affiliated to CITU, gathered for a mass demonstration on August 25, 2023, at 4 p.m. in front of the office of the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests in Haddo, Port Blair. The demonstrators voiced their demands, which included continuous service for all Daily Rated Mazdoors of Forest Department, an end to the classification of Daily Rated Mazdoors as seasonal workers, grant of 1/30th Pay to all DRMs of Forest Department, and regularisation of their services.
Hundreds of Forest Department workers hailing from Port Blair and rural areas of South Andaman actively participated in the demonstration, highlighting the urgency and importance of their demands.
Addressing the passionate crowd, B. Chandrachoodan, General Secretary of CITU A & N State Committee, issued a stern warning to Forest Department authorities against disengaging any daily rated worker currently employed. He emphasized that CITU and affiliated unions would initiate agitations if the Forest Department proceeded to terminate the services of these workers.
R. Surendran Pillai, President of the CITU State Committee, and SP Kalairajan, General Secretary of A & N Forest Department Workers Union, also took the stage to address the gathering, expressing their solidarity with the workers’ cause.
Leading the Mass Demonstration were D. Ayyappan, President of A & N Forest Department Workers Union, along with CITU State Secretaries Anand Rajan and M. Yugandar, as well as Jagdhan, Joint Secretary, and V. Rushi, Treasurer of the Forest Union.
The demonstration highlighted the pressing issues facing daily rated forest workers in the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.