Bhbaneswar, Jan. 13: Traffic at the busy Sishu Bhavan Square came to a halt for almost two hours today when thousands of teachers staged a sit-in after police prevented them from marching towards Naveen Nivas, the chief minister's residence.

The teachers, who were demanding the regularisation of their jobs, were planning a gherao of Naveen Nivas.

Around 2,000 teachers were taken into preventive custody following the incident. They were freed later.

Representatives of Odisha Gana Sikshak Mahasangh had met school and mass education minister Devi Prasad Mishra last evening.

The minister had urged the teachers to call off the protest as the recommendation of the committee, which was looking into their demands, had already been sent to the chief minister.

The state government had formed the inter-ministerial committee of seven ministers in October to look into the teachers' demands of job regularisation and salary hike. The committee had recently submitted its report to the school and mass education department, which then forwarded it to the chief minister last week for a final nod.

The teachers, however, expressed their unhappiness, as the recommendations of the committee were not discussed with them before being forwarded to the chief minister.

"We are completely in the dark about the decisions taken by the committee. We do not know what recommendations they have sent to the chief minister. We have stopped believing in these false assurances," said working secretary of the Mahasangh Bulu Behera.

On November 27, the Mahasangh had postponed its agitation following assurances from Mishra.

"The minister had then assured us that our jobs would be regularised by the third week of December. But it was an eyewash. We are not going to budge this time until there is an announcement by the chief minister himself and a formal order is passed," said president of the Mahasangh Sarat Chandra Nayak.

Mishra said: "Under the Right to Education Act, it is compulsory for teachers to be trained to be eligible for regularisation. Hence, according to the rules, only those who have received teachers' training can be regularised."

However, the government is trying to accommodate the untrained teachers as well, the minister said.

Out on the streets

Thousands of teachers from across the state have been in the city since December 22. They have stayed put here, braving the cold winter nights under the sky or in temporary tents at Lower PMG.

Some of the women teachers are being accompanied by their children.

"Its not only my kid who is losing his classes, my students, whom I consider as my children, are also suffering because of this insensitive government. I am helpless. It seems we all got into the wrong profession. We have lost our respect in the eyes of the public," said Sanjukta Sarojini, a teacher.

"It's a shame to even discuss our salaries. We earn less than what a daily labourer earns. It's becoming almost impossible for us to manage our expenses. How can the government expect us to impart quality teaching under these circumstances?" said Subash Jena, another teacher.

Chaos rules

The stage-in by the teachers, which started around 10.40am, lasted for an hour. However, it took another hour for the snarls to clear. Traffic returned to normal only around 12.30pm.

The busy intersection leads to Capital Hospital Square, Raj Mahal, Mausi Maa Mandir Square and Naveen Nivas. While Capital Hospital is one of the premier hospitals, Raj Mahal houses the railway station and the road to Naveen Nivas leads to the airport. All these roads were affected by the protest.

Many of the commuters took alternative routes to reach their destinations.

"I was supposed to reach Capital Hospital via Sishu Bhavan Square, where I found hundreds of agitators on the road. I waited for around 30 minutes for the traffic to clear. But at last I had to take another road and reached the hospital 45 minutes late," said Abhisek Dhal, a medical representative.

Inspector in charge of Capital police station Manas Ranjan Garanaik said that they were keeping a constant watch on the movement of the agitators. "We have also warned them not to stage dharna by sitting on busy roads," said Garanaik.