ITANAGAR, Feb 10: The state unit of the Indian Foresters’ Federation (IFF) has invited the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) attention to the alleged denial of honorarium to forest personnel who are deployed on election duties.
In a representation to the ECI, the unit claimed that the personnel under the state’s forests & environment department who are deployed on election duties have been denied their honorarium for the last 20 years by the state government.
“It is against the guidelines of the independent norms of the ECI,” it said.
As per ECI norms, all government employees who are engaged in election duties are entitled to an honorarium immediately after every parliament/assembly election as separate funds are directly provided by the ECI for the same, the unit said, and lamented that in case of the forest personnel in Arunachal, “they have been denied honorarium since last 20 years.”
Alleging that the funds meant for disbursing the honorarium were either misused by the state government or embezzled by the higher authorities, the IFF unit requested the ECI to initiate steps to ensure payment of 100% TA/DA in advance and implement “insured disbursement of honorarium” to the forest personnel of the state in the coming parliament and assembly elections.
