Employees of Namdapha National Park and Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh have threatened to vacate their forest camps and suspend all work if their wages, pending for six months, are not released within 10 days.
The staff say they have been working without pay since April, and the mounting financial distress has made it impossible for many families to meet basic needs. The warning was reported by India Today NE, citing the workers’ representatives.
A Biodiversity Hotspot at Risk
Namdapha is among India’s most significant protected areas — a national park and tiger reserve in Changlang district, bordering Myanmar, renowned for its extraordinary biodiversity. The reserve is one of the few places in the world where four big cat species have been reported, and its dense evergreen forests are considered a global conservation priority.
Forest camps in such remote terrain depend entirely on their ground staff for anti-poaching patrols, wildlife monitoring and habitat protection. If the workers vacate their camps, conservation work in one of India’s richest wildlife landscapes could grind to a halt.
Wages Pending Since April
According to the reports, the employees — many of whom are engaged as casual or contractual workers in frontline roles — have gone unpaid for half a year. The workers have set a 10-day deadline for the release of the pending dues, after which they say they will walk out of the camps and suspend duties.
Delayed wage payments to forest frontline staff have been flagged in several states as a recurring administrative failure, with conservationists warning that underpaid and demoralised field workers weaken the entire protection apparatus of reserves.
What Is Expected
The workers are demanding the immediate release of the pending wages. The ball is now in the court of the state forest department and the Arunachal Pradesh government, which must clear the dues if the reserve’s protection work is to continue uninterrupted.
The development also raises questions about funding flows to protected areas in the state — whether the delay is a budget-release issue or an administrative bottleneck — a point officials have yet to clarify publicly.
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