Mysuru: Over 3,500 outsourced/daily wage employees of the forest department, who are associated with Outsourced/Daily Wages Employees Association of Karnataka State Forest Department, on Wednesday threatened an indefinite strike from April 30.They demanded fulfilment of their various demands, including cancellation of the outsource system in the department and extending various welfare measures. These employees are working in the anti-poaching camps, Elephant Task Forces, and other sections of the department.Speaking to reporters, SS Harish, state vice-president of the association, alleged that in 2017, thousands of employees of the department who were working since 1996 as daily wage employees were converted as outsourced employees. “Since then we have been deprived of all the facilities,” he alleged.“We are working round-the-clock as our jobs are very critical in nature. We want to start a strike from April 1. However, we were assured that our demands would be considered positively. Even though a meeting was convened in this regard, our demands were not met,” he said.“In Nov 2025 also we were given assurance. But, as there is no action from the govt, we decided to hold a strike from April 30,” he said.
