Friday, Jan 08, 2010
Coimbatore: Students of Forest College and Research Institute here went on a hunger strike on Thursday demanding provision of employment for B.Sc Forestry students in the Forest Department.

The students had been on a strike since November 20 urging the Government to recruit B.Sc Forestry students in the Forest Department as Range Officers. The agitation resurfaced once again in the wake of the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission notification calling for application for 80 vacant post of Range Officers in the Department. The notification did not have any specific allocation for B.Sc Forestry students.

In spite of protesting for the last fifty days, the students had received no assurance from the Government in this regard. The objective of starting a Forest College and offering B.Sc and M.Sc Forestry courses was to create skilled manpower for Forestry services. While other States have reservation for Forestry students ranging from 25 to even 100 per cent, Tamil Nadu had not taken any positive step . The denial of employment prospects was in spite top officials from Forest Department submitting a report stating that there could be a reservation for Forestry students, the students said.

If the Government failed to act before the conclusion of this Assembly session , students and parents have decided to go on a hunger strike in front of the Secretariate at Chennai.