Coimbatore : Nearly 250 Anti-Poaching Watchers (APW) Friday observed a one-day fast here, demanding among other things regularisation of their services.

The striking watchers claimed that the direct appointment of forest watchers through tests, has come as a blow to their future, as they were promoted and appointed for the posts on seniority basis.

The new policy has hit over 1,000 APWs all over Tamil Nadu, who are risking their lives in the jungles amid wildlife, they said.

They also said that the APWs working in social forestry section were made permanent, but services of majority of those in wildlife section was yet to be regularised.

The APWs wanted the government to regularise the services of those who had put in 20 years.

Their agitation in different forms will continue if their demands were not met by the Government, the fasting members said.