Indian National Forest and Wood Workers Federation president and former MP Dr Rama Chandra Khuntia on Saturday urged the Government to pay an aid of Rs 7,500 and 10 kg rice per head per month to forest dwellers and tribals till December 2020 as they have been hit by Covid lockdown.
“Forest dwellers and tribals can be engaged as watch and ward personnel in forests and deployed in plantation activities to increase forest coverage. They should be given 200 working days under the MGNREGA and Rs 7,500 per month and 10 kg rice per head till December 2020,” demanded Dr Khuntia, who is also national vice- president of the INTUC, at a meeting held through videoconferencing.
He slammed the Union Government for four labour codes and the State Government for “empowering employers to retrench workers” and increasing the daily working hours from 8 hours to 12 hours. The Government should take trade unions into confidence for taking workers-related decisions, suggested Dr Khuntia.
As forest dwellers and tribals are not going to forests to collect kendu and Sal leaves, Sal seeds, Mahua flowers and other forest products, forest mafia and wood smugglers are in advantage position to smuggle wood logs and bone, teeth and skin and other parts of forest animals.
So there should be compulsory forest certificates by the international reputed agencies like FSC, PEFC and SFI to put an end to smuggling of woods and other forest products.
Asia Pacific representative Apolinar Tolentino and BWI forest committee in-charge Khoon coordinated the videoconferencing. Kishore Jena, Jogendra Tripathy, Pawan Kumar, V Nallo Mutho, Dr Rajeev Sharma and Prerana Prasad and representatives of East, South East, South Asia and Pacific trade unions participated.