Dhanbad, April 10: Two persons — Gopal Chandra Barat and Sheikh Muhammad Siddiqui — fell ill during the para-teachers’ 72-hour hunger strike that started yesterday at Randhir Verma square.

The duo were admitted to Patliputra Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) here. The condition of the two are reportedly stable.

Former Union minister for state human resource development and BJP leader Rita Verma met the para-teachers and assured them of all possible help.

Several para-teachers have gone on strike demanding automatic renewal of contract, clearance of salary dues of our days and free education for teachers who have studied till matriculation.

The demands were also placed before the deputy commissioner (DC), sub-divisional officer (SDO) and district superintendent of education (DSE), but no action in this regard was taken by the officials yet.

The president of Para-teachers’ Sangh, Raj Kishore Mahto, said the demands were placed earlier but there was no response from the officials concerned. There are hundreds of para-teachers in Dhanbad. It is the question of their future and authorities have to listen to them, Mahto said. The DSE, Ratan Kumar Mahawar, said he was in Ranchi to attend a meeting and he would look into the matter on Friday.

He also said that changing the rules rests with the state government and not with the district-level officials.

“The project department is going to deal with the changes, they are not in our hands,” he said. On the four days’ salary dues of the agitating teachers, he said that the pending amount of the para-teachers had been cleared.

The salary of four days was held due to some irregularities. A para-teacher is appointed by Gram Shiksha Samiti (GSS) of respective villages and the salary of the teachers is fixed at Rs 2,500 per month.

The department hands over the money to the samiti, which in turn disburses the salary to the teachers.