Punjab technical university staff on strike, engg students at receiving end

Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, April 8

Hundreds of engineering students are bearing the brunt as enraged over the inordinate delay in payment of their salaries, the staff members of Shaheed Bhagat Singh State Technical University have been on strike for the last several weeks.

With no one paying heed to their demands, a few staff members and some officials have now resorted to relay hunger strike to express their resentment against the state government.

AAP govt slashed grant

Earlier, the AAP government had announced grant of Rs 30 crore per year to the university. However, later the grant was slashed to Rs 15 crore per annum only, and that too has not been received fully. —Kulbhushan Agnihotri, President, Engineering college teachers association

There are around 250 teaching and non-teaching staff members working in the university who have not received their salaries for the past more than seven months.

While slamming the AAP government, Kulbhushan Agnihotri, president, Engineering College Teachers Association, said the staff members of the university were finding it difficult to run their households in absence of salaries, for which the AAP government was squarely responsible. “Earlier, the AAP government had announced to give Rs 30 crore per year to the university. However, later the grant was slashed to Rs 15 crore per annum only, and that too has not been received fully,” said Agnihotri.

“The newly appointed VC, Dr Sushil Mittal, had promised a special grant, but to no avail, which left us with no choice but to sit on relay hunger strike,” said Gurpreet Singh, president, Staff Welfare Association, adding that the government was not just playing with the lives of the staff members, but also of the students whose studies are suffering badly.

The staff members had started a pen-down strike on March 14. Under the banner of the joint action committee, they also held a gate rally in front of the university.