Other States - Orissa   

Unaided teachers stage a sit-in

BHUBANESWAR: Some one hundred teachers and employees of unaided colleges in the State on Thursday squatted at the gate of the residence of State Industries Minister Biswa Bhushan Harichandan seeking provision of grant-in-aid for their colleges.

They blocked the entrance before the Minister could come out for attending his office. They were trying to put their demands across to Mr. Harichandan, who was president of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Higher Education. The committee was scheduled to sit on Friday.

Convenor of the All Orissa Un-aided Colleges and Employees’ Coordination Committee Golak Nayak said: “We have done everything in a Gandhian way, including staging of mass hunger strike, polishing shoes and begging. If the government does not consider our plea, it should then be held responsible for any law and order problem.”

The teachers and employees were forced to resort to agitations because they were not able to maintain a decent standard of life after being engaged in these colleges for over 17 years with a meagre salary, Mr. Nayak said.

He said the association had been given assurances for more than 11 times since 2005 but nothing happened so far. Some of the members of the association even threatened to commit suicide if their demands were not addressed favourably.

According to them, some 7,000 employees were leading a difficult life as the government did not extended grant-in-aid facilities to their colleges. The government had so far maintained that those colleges, which would have been set up before 1989, were eligible for grant-in-aid.

The teachers left the place only after Mr. Harichandan assured them to discuss the issue in the next meeting.

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