Other States - Rajasthan   

Teachers clash with police

Special Correspondent

30 hurt as police lob tear gas shells and resort to lathi-charge

JAIPUR: About 30 persons were injured when teachers of aided schools clashed with the police near the Secretariat here on Saturday. The police lobbed tear gas shells and resorted to a lathi-charge to disperse the agitated teachers who were trying to head towards the main gate of the Secretariat after breaking the barricades.

Though there were unofficial reports about police firing in the air, Superintendent of Police (South) Vishal Bansal denied it. According to him 13 police personnel were injured in the clashes with the agitators. The police have taken into custody 19 persons.

The clashes broke out reportedly after someone from the agitating group pelted stones at the police while the crowd tried to force its way ahead. The police action led to injuries to 15 persons.

The teachers belonging to the Rajasthan Anudhanit Shikshak Sangh were on a protest rally to press for their long pending 14-point charter of demands which include payment of salaries from the State treasury, filling up of the vacant posts, selection grade to the teachers under the Shiksha Karmi Yogna and other benefits.

The Congress party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) have condemned the police action. In a statement here the Pradesh Congress Committee president B.D.Kalla blamed the police for using force on a group of teachers who were agitating peacefully in support of their justified demands. The cause behind the unrest of the teachers was the Bharatiya Janata Party Government's decision to reduce the aid to educational institutions by 10 per cent, he charged.

The State Secretariat of the CPI (M), in a statement decried the use of "brute force" on the agitating teachers. "The police action once again has exposed the despotic as well as anti-employee attitude of the Raje Government," it said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Teachers clash with police
Govt. to issue soil health cards to farmers

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu