7 days on, Punjab Agricultural University teachers’ association warns of intensifying protest

Ludhiana August 28

With no resolution in sight, the protest by the Punjab Agricultural University Teachers Association (PAUTA) has entered 7th day. Despite being ranked the No.1 agricultural university in India, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) is witnessing an unprecedented protest by its teachers, who are fighting for their ‘genuine’ demands, said PAUTA president Mandeep Singh Gill.

The president also expressed concern over the lack of action by the state government and the PAU administration. “It’s ironic that our university is ranked NO.1, but our scientists are struggling to get their genuine demands met.”

The PAUTA warned the PAU Administration of intensifying their protest if their demands were not met. “We are planning to block the entrance to Thapar Hall ( the administrative wing of PAU) in the coming days to force the administration to listen to us and get the issues resolved from the state government,” he added

The key demands of the PAU faculty are a revision of allowances and gratuity, the payment of revised pay arrears from January 1, 2016, withdrawal of basic pay notification and resolution of pay parity, implementation of the old pension scheme, revised pensions for pre-2016 retiree teachers and payment of three pending DA installments.

PAUTA secretary Gurmeet Singh Dheri pointed out that the state government had already notified revised allowances and gratuity for teachers of other state universities, but the teachers of PAU were being denied the same. The PAU Pensioners Teachers Association is also supporting the ongoing protest as the state government has still not revised the pension of the teachers of the PAU and Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) who retired prior to January 1, 2016.