VIJAYAWADA: Following failure of talks between members of the Joint Action Committee of Teachers' Organisations (JACTO) and the State Government on Tuesday, leaders of the action committee in Krishna district decided to intensify their strike by disrupting work at the spot valuation centre in Machilipatnam from Wednesday.

"We will not allow valuation of the answer sheets by laying siege to the centre," said JACTO district coordinator P.V.B Sudhakar.

Fifteen leaders of various teacher organisations and members of the JACTO courted arrest while 13 others were arrested at a different venue under Section 144 of the Cr.P.C. on Tuesday for staging a relay hunger strike.

Soon after the news of failure of talks broke out, the committee leaders in the district met at Koneru Centre in Machilipatnam to discuss their future course of action.

Support sought

Mr. Sudhakar said the committee members held talks with leaders of auto-rickshaw drivers' union seeking their support in making Wednesday's strike total.

"Our stand is justified and unions like the LIC Workers' Union and the Centre of Indian Trade Union, besides the Communist Party of India (Marxist), have expressed their solidarity with the JACTO," he said.

Helpless

Krishna District Education Officer D.V. Krishna Vinayak said there was little he could do under the present situation.

"I can't force things on anyone. If the teachers come, we will conduct valuation of the papers. We have taken all care from our side to make it a smooth affair," he said.

Mr. Vinayak said that only 360 teachers turned up for valuation of answer sheets on Tuesday, as against a requirement of 1,042 examiners.

"We have not been able to complete even 30 per cent of the job," he admitted.

The committee members were demanding that the Government merge two years of service in pension for apprentice teachers and file a petition in the Supreme Court after framing service rules for teachers.

Relay hunger stir

GUNTUR: The agitation launched by teachers under the aegis of Joint Action Committee of Teachers Organisations (JATCO) intensified on Tuesday, with the teachers resorting to indefinite relay hunger strikes.

The agitating teachers pitched up a tent, 100 metres away from the Stall Girls High School, and the centre for spot valuation, in view of the prohibitory orders.

United Teachers Federation district president N. Tandava Kumar, State Teachers Union president A Maria Das and District Teachers Federation president K. Basava Lingam were among those who were present.

In a spot

Meanwhile, the spot valuation continued to be plagued by the dearth of teachers with only 20,000 answer sheets being valued so far.

District Educational Officer Movva Ramalingam said spot valuation, which was supposed to end on April 15, would now be extended.

As per the schedule, at least one lakh answersheets were supposed to be valued daily. Over 250 teachers attended the spot valuation on Tuesday, a little higher than the number of teachers who attended valuation on Monday.

Future plans

To cope with the demand, the department was planning to rope in teachers from High Schools and un-aided schools, he said.

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