Contractual lecturers pin hope on L-G admn

Tribune News Service

Jammu, November 19

The All-Jammu and Kashmir Contractual Lecturers (10+2) Forum hope that the authorities in the newly created Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir will be able to fulfill their long-pending demand of regularisation of their services.

Many Class XII lecturers are on a continuous chain hunger strike for around 1,000 days (more than 3 years) inside the Exhibition Ground. The forum has installed a temporary tent for the sitting purpose of lecturers.

The aggrieved lecturers claimed that in 2010, the then government in the erstwhile state had passed a legislation wherein, it was mentioned that ad hoc, contractual and consolidated lecturers would be regularised after seven years, but so far it has not happened.

“Every day the lecturers sit on the hunger strike from 9 am to 5 pm on a rotation basis with the only hope that our demand of regularisation are fulfilled by the government one day. Except for verbal assurances from the authorities at the helm of affairs nothing concrete has been done so far”, one of the lecturers said.

“Leaders of the forum are in constant touch with the Advisers so that our struggle will yield positive results. It is very difficult to run our families with the meagre salary we are getting. The lecturers who are working in the plain areas are getting a monthly salary of little over Rs 10, 000 while those who work in the hilly areas get Rs 14,000”, which is not sufficient”, he added. “All the contractual lecturers are highly qualified to impart teaching to the students at the secondary and higher secondary level then why there is so much delay by the successive governments to fulfill our basic demand of regularisation”, said another contractual lecturer. “All our hopes are now on the LG administration to regularise our services so that we are able to run our families”, a contractual lecturer added.