Sanjha Adhyapak Morcha wants salaries released

Jalandhar, February 25

Members of the Sanjha Adhyapak Morcha on Friday sent “rosh pattars” (protest letters) to the Principal Secretary and the Education Minister of the state demanding the release of the pending dues and salaries to teachers.

The members said the salaries and pending dues of the pay commission meant for thousands of teaching and non-teaching employees for the month of January had not been paid. They said there was no budget available for the pending dues of the February month due to which there was little hope of getting salaries soon.

Sending protest letters to the Principal Secretary and the Education Minister through District Education Officer (Elementary Education) Gurbhajan Singh Lasani and Deputy District Education Officer (Elementary Education) Gurcahran Singh Multani, the teachers demanded the resolving of the issue of salaries. They said if the issue was not resolved at the earliest, a district-level protest dharna would be held on March 4.

They said due to non-availability of timely and adequate budget provisions by the Education and Finance Departments of the state government for the payment of salaries and pending dues, employees were facing an acute financial crisis.

They also condemned the Education Department for citing the withdrawal of salary arrears by some teachers as the reason for the crisis. They said pending dues for the last five and a half years and dearness allowance arrears of teachers had not yet been paid by the department.

They said the government had decided to release the arrears for the past four months and the lack of budget even for that hinted at the Education Department’s incompetence.

They said due to non-payment of salaries many teachers had buried under the weight of bank loans. Besides, many were unable to fulfil domestic needs.

Sanjha Adhyapak Morcha leaders Surinder Kumar Puari, Navpreet Balli, Karnail Phillaur, Gurdev Ram Chitti, among others, sought immediate release of teachers’s salaries. Teachers also demanded that pending dues be released at the earliest so that education did not come to a standstill in schools.