Over 600 teachers, under the banner of Sanjha Adhyapak Morcha, protested outside cabinet minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu’s residence on Sunday and demanded changes in the recommendations issued in the 6th pay commission by the state government.
The protesters gathered at the DC office and marched towards minister Ashu’s house at noon. The police put up barricades outside the cabinet minister’s house but, some teachers tried to jump over the same, and when police personnel tried to stop them, they entered into a scuffle with the cops.
The teachers requested the cops to allow them to reach the minister’s house, but the cops refused to let them. Amid a heated argument between the teachers and the cops, Surinder Singh of the Government School Teacher Union got injured.
The teachers raised slogans against the state government and continued to protest till 2 pm. The teachers stated that their salaries would get reduced with the implementation of the commission.
The staff is demanding a 3.8-time raise in their salaries and pensions, but the pay panel has recommended a hike of 2.25 times on the grade pay of ₹4,200, which they said was unacceptable. The teachers further rued that their house allowance was also being reduced from 20% to 16%.
{{/usCountry}}The staff is demanding a 3.8-time raise in their salaries and pensions, but the pay panel has recommended a hike of 2.25 times on the grade pay of ₹4,200, which they said was unacceptable. The teachers further rued that their house allowance was also being reduced from 20% to 16%.
{{/usCountry}}They also demanded that the government release the pending dearness allowance of 32%, which they had not paid to the employees since 2016.
Sukhwinder Singh Chahal, the convener of the union, said, “The government must immediately cover the employees recruited after 2004 under the pension scheme, release the dearness allowance instalment that has been pending for the past many months, fill all vacant posts in government departments to ease the burden of work on the existing employees, and regularise jobs of all employees working on contractual basis.”
A teacher of Senior Secondary Residential School for Meritorious Students, requesting anonymity, said, “I have been teaching students of Classes 11 and 12 for the past six years. Many of our students have secured top positions in Class 12 board exams. Despite that and our students cracking the Joint Entrance Examination, the government has not made any efforts to regularize our services.”