Kalimpong, Aug. 24: The newly formed Forum of Deputy Rangers has decided to approach forest minister Hiten Barman with four demands — timely promotion, pay revision, filling up of vacant posts and examinations for promotion.

The forum was formed at a meeting in Kurseong last weekend and claims to have 200 members. In all, there are about 1,200 deputy rangers serving in the forest department.

Phurba Sherpa, the secretary of the forum, said there were more than 200 posts of forest rangers lying vacant at moment.

“We want all the vacant posts to be filled up through promotion to ensure smooth functioning of the range administration.”

The deputy rangers also said their salary was far from satisfactory compared to their counterparts in other states.

The forum regretted that among the cadre posts, it was only the deputy rangers who had not been getting promotion even after serving in the same post for 20 years.