Home guards to strike in police station

***The aggrieved home guard personnel who were picked up by the police for trying to stage hunger strike on Thursday***

SHILLONG, NOV 20: Hundred and thirty home guards personnel from Garo Hills were picked up on Thursday morning by police before they could stage their indefinite hunger strike to protest the sudden termination from their services by the state forest department.

The home guards personnel were picked up from the parking lots near the additional secretariat and were taken to the Sadar police station, police officials said.

The home guards delegation who had decided to hold the hunger strike in Shillong reached the city at around 5 am from Garo hills.

The aggrieved home guards personnel leader Utoom Marak told reporters that they are firm of holding the indefinite hunger strike even as the government is putting a spanner by picking them up.He said, “We will go ahead with our indefinite hunger strike in the premises of the police station itself.”

“We demand the state government to address our problem immediately,” Marak said.

Marak also said the chief minister Mukul Sangma and other authorities in the government have assured to take up the matter of reinstating their services but till now nothing had been done.

According to Marak the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) directed the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Garo hills division, Tura who has issued a letter vide memo no. A/19/1 dated Tura, June 25, 2014 terminating 225 home guard officials services under the Forest Department allegedly without citing “any viable reasons whatsoever.”

“We all vowed to fast unto death. We will not go back to our homes, if the government remains adamant towards our grievances. We don’t have any alternatives now,” Marak said.

These home guards personnel have been in their service for more than 10 years and some even for 20 years. They have been deputed in the eight forest ranges located in the different districts of Garo hills region.

These aggrieved home guards personnel said the sudden termination by the department has affected their livelihood and their families. “We can no longer support our families, there is no food at home and we cannot afford to pay for children’s education,” one of the aggrieved personnel said.

One of the police officials said that so far there is no communication from the government on the issue to the police.- By Our Reporter