Teachers of Punjabi University, who were on a two-hour protest for the past 20 days under the banner of the Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF), called off their dharna on Monday after their demands were met. The decision was taken on Monday by the protesting teachers in front of the vice-chancellor’s office.
Teachers, heads, deans and other faculty members were protesting against salary and other arrears. They also hailed the Punjab government for the release of 20% pay arrears for the period of 43 months. The payment of pending dearness allowance (DA) was also released along with mobile allowance arrears.
The protesters also expressed concern over the deteriorating financial health of the university and accused the university authorities of not taking any steps to bridge the income and expenditure gap.
The continuous over-dependence on bank overdrafts has led to this situation as it involves higher rate of interest, they added. They said there was a pendency of retirement benefits such as gratuity and leave encashment.
DTF convener Jaswinder Singh also flayed the university’s move of giving administrative charges to superannuated and re-employed teachers. He also expressed concern over delay in implementation of the National Pension Scheme (NPS) by the University.