Forest village Kotwar gets Rs 65 as salary

Bhopal, Sep 3 (UNI) A forest village Kotwar (watchman) in Madhya Pradesh is being paid a meagre remuneration of Rs 65 per month.

At the same time, a revenue village Kotwar, the lowest paid part-time village-level government official, gets upto Rs 1500 per month.

This fact was brought to the notice of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan during a ''Samadhan Online'' programme here yesterday and he immediately ordered to increase the remuneration of Kotwars of forest villages at par with their counterparts in revenue villages, official sources said.

The Chief Minister was responding to a petition filed by forest village Kotwar Tijudas Panika of Balaghat district. Mr Panika pointed out that he receives only Rs 65 per month as remuneration while his counterparts in revenue villages get upto Rs 1500 per month.

The Chief Minister also sanctioned Rs 5,000 from his discretionary fund to Mr Panika, who is a handicapped, the sources added.

The minimum wage of an agriculture labourer in the state is more than Rs 75 per day.

UNI SP 1324