Rishipal Saxena has been working as a wireless operator at Pilibhit Tiger Reserve since June 9, 2014 on a daily wage basis. But for the past 11 months he hasn’t received any payment for his service. 

The absence of income has been disastrous for the 35-year-old father of two children aged two-year-old and five-year-old. According to Saxena, not only did he resort to selling his wife’s jewellery worth Rs 130,000 but also borrowed a loan worth Rs 38,000 to sustain his household expenses. Constant nagging by people who frequented his house to recover the loan amount led his wife to end her life, he said.

“I had no money to even arrange two meals a day for my family. I had availed loans to feed my family but I had never thought that my wife Roli would not be able to bear the daily stress of not being able to pay it back,” Saxena told Gaon Connection. “She killed herself on November 17 and left me alone to take care of my two children,” he added.

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Wireless operator Saxena is not the only one who has not received payment for his services at the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve in Uttar Pradesh. About 250 daily wage workers in the reserve have not received their payments for almost a year, they complain.  

The protesting workers’ welfare organisation, Minimum Daily Wages Forest Workers Union, has warned of organising a demonstration in Lucknow, the state capital, if their payments are not released by December 20. 

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Meanwhile, workers in the other two  tiger reserves in Uttar Pradesh — Dudhwa Tiger Reserve (Lakhimpur Kheri) and Amangarh Tiger Reserve (Bijnor) are also complaining about similar delays in payments.

Devesh Dikshit, a driver employed at the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve told Gaon Connection that he hasn’t paid his dues for the last 13 months. “It’s a crisis for my household and survival in general. My loans are mounting. Me and my saathi (colleagues) have decided that if we don’t get paid by December 20, we shall agitate in Lucknow,” he said. 

Loans, stress on the rise

Abdul Khunud Khan, also a wireless operator at the reserve, has similar woes. “You can imagine what 11 months of lack of payment can do to people like us. The grocery shop owners have refused to give anything since I haven’t paid his dues. My children’s school is warning of expulsion if their fees are not paid. It’s causing  a lot of stress!” Khan told Gaon Connection.

Khan also alleged that workers like him are forced to work way more than 12 hours despite the contract mentions eight hours of daily work. 

Workers like Saxena and Khan are the foot soldiers of the forest administration in the reserve. Along with general maintenance of the forest, their responsibilities include ensuring effective communication between the field areas and the higher officials. In case of inadvertent events like wild animals crossing over to the human settlements, it is workers like them who are the first to reach the point of incident. 

“We are paid ten thousand rupees for a month of hard work. Even that payment is not being released for 11 months. If we oppose it, we are threatened with being fired,” Khan said. When villagers’ cattle are attacked by the wild animals, they also beat us up. It’s like our lives have no dignity, he lamented.

‘Delay at state govt’s end’

When asked about the reason as to why there has been a delay in the payment of these workers, Field Director of the Pilibhit Tiger Reserve told Gaon Connection that the state government hasn’t released the funds yet.

“The National Tiger Conservation Authority has sent the money to the state but the delay is at the Uttar Pradesh government’s end. We have asked the state finance department about it. It is expected that the payment will be released soon,” field director Javed Akhtar, told Gaon Connection.

Meanwhile, Rafiullah Khan, general secretary of the protesting Minimum Daily Wages Forest Workers Union, has appealed to the tourists not to visit the tiger reserve for the time being.

“We request the tourists not to visit the reserve as of now in order to avoid inconvenience. The protesting workers have suspended the operations. Also, the workers will soon demonstrate in Lucknow if the payments are not released by December 20,” he said.