Imphal, Aug. 29: Intensifying their agitation, more than 2,000 Manipur government schoolteachers today courted arrest here to protest blocking of their salaries for the past three months by the Okram Ibobi Singh government.

More teachers are planning to court arrest tomorrow.

Government schoolteachers are not getting salaries since May after the Okram Ibobi Singh government froze their salaries in view of the ongoing verification of appointment orders of teachers in all government schools across the state.

The verification, now being carried out by district committees headed by the respective deputy commissioners, was ordered after the militant Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) exposed illegal appointment of teachers in several schools.

After the teachers threatened to resign en masse, the government yesterday ordered payment of salaries to those teachers whose verification has been completed and appointments found genuine.

However, this failed to pacify the protesters. Teachers under the banner of the Elementary School Teachers Association and All Manipur Secondary School Teachers Association gathered first on the campus of Imphal?s C.C. Higher Secondary School in the morning.

They then marched towards the chief minister?s office, but police stopped them at Sanjenthong, close to the chief minister?s office complex.

The police pushed them back and when the teachers refused to disperse, the police rounded them up and herded them to the nearby Iboyaima Sanglen auditorium. However, all the teachers were released.

H. Gojen Singh, general secretary of the Elementary School Teachers Association, said the agitation would continue till the government released the salaries of all the teachers. ?Another batch of teachers will court arrest tomorrow. Teachers from Imphal East took part in today?s programme. Tomorrow, teachers from Imphal West will court arrest,? he said.

The teachers said they had submitted a memorandum to the chief minister on August 1, highlighting the problems being faced by them due to non-payment of salaries at a time when Manipur was reeling under the impact of the economic blockade. But the government did very little to improve their lot, they alleged.

The teachers are now demanding that the payment should be made despite the verification process. ?If any teacher is found appointed illegally, then he should be punished according to the law. But why should the entire teaching community be made to suffer on account of some unscrupulous elements in cahoots with corrupt officials?? one of the teachers asked.

However, only the release of salaries will not pacify the agitating teachers. They are adamant that the government should also review the mass transfer policy announced a few months ago. Teachers who will be retiring in a few months? time are transferred to far-off and interior areas in violation of the existing transfer rules, they alleged.

?If the government fails to release the salaries and review the transfer policy, the teachers will launch a mass hungerstrike. We are even prepared to stage a fast-unto-death,? Th. Ibopishak, general secretary of the All Manipur Secondary School Teachers Association, said.