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High drama in Dirba: Teachers scale water tanks to protest low salaries
25 villages in Punjab finance minister’s constituency see coordinated protests; union warns of escalating stir if March 5 meeting fails.
In a coordinated show of defiance against finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema, members of the ETT TET Pass Teachers’ Union on Tuesday climbed water tanks and mobile towers across 25 villages in Dirba.
The protest, sparked by unresolved grievances regarding salary scales and service conditions, began at Sular Gharat village on the Sangrur-Patran road before spreading to Dhandoli Kalan and Dirba town.
The primary cause of the agitation is an alleged discriminatory pay structure affecting 180 ETT teachers recruited in 2016.
State unit president Kamal Thakur said while 4,500 teachers from that batch were placed under the Punjab government’s 6th Pay Commission, these 180 individuals were shifted to the central government’s 7th Pay Commission, resulting in significantly lower salaries. The union alleged that these cuts were implemented despite the education minister’s prior acknowledgment of the error.
From atop a mobile tower, general secretary Sohan Singh Barnala raised slogans and said: “Teachers have been forced into these life-threatening situations due to the finance minister’s hollow promises.”
Beyond pay parity, the protesters demanded the immediate implementation of the ₹1,000 monthly allowance for women promised by the AAP government and legal MSP guarantees for farmers.
The standoff was eventually resolved following police intervention. Dirba deputy superintendent of police Rupinder Kaur Bajwa said that the protest was called off after the administration assured the union of a formal meeting with the cabinet sub-committee in Chandigarh on March 5.
However, Thakur warned that the union would resume its agitation if the meeting fails to yield a concrete solution for pay parity.
