Bhubaneswar, Feb. 18: Teachers from non-government colleges have threatened an indefinite ceasework from April 1 if the state government failed to redress their grievances.

The teachers, under the banner All-Odisha Non Government College Teachers' Association, have sought the government's immediate intervention on its long standing demands, such as abolition of block grant and restoration of grant-in-aid, implementation of promotional benefits for those receiving salary in state scale, and enhancement of the retirement age to 62.

Association president Rabi Ray today criticised the government's "inaction" in redressing these demands, while its general secretary Ajay Kumar Samal termed the introduction of the block grant system in 2004 to be an "anti-teacher" action.

"This is sheer violation of equal-pay-for-equal-work policy and the principle of equality and justice. This system is depriving the teachers and employees from the basic service conditions such as annual increment, dearness allowance and pension benefits," said Samal.

The teachers alleged that they were being promoted to the ranks of senior lecturer and reader after 17 and 27 years of service respectively, which was far delayed than what was the norm in other states.

"The promotion rule is highly discriminatory," rued a teacher, demanding immediate implementation of UGC scales for them.

The association has announced a sit-in demonstration before the secretariat on February 29 to press for their demands. "If the state fails to act on our demands within a month, we will start the indefinite ceasework from April 1," said Ray.

In another development, the All-Odisha Non-Government Lecturers' and Employees' Association has also decided to continue with their agitation until their demands of abolition of block grant and introduction of grant-in-aid policy were met.

President of the association Golak Nayak, however, said that the lecturers would co-operate with the government in conducting the examinations. "But, as a mark of protest against the government's discriminatory policies, the teachers will wear black badges during the examination duty," he said.

Hinjili protest

A huge police force was deployed today to prevent agitating block grant teachers from entering Hinjili, the Assembly constituency of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, where the teachers were to stage a demonstration.

Members of the Odisha Block Grant Secondary School Teachers' and Employees' Association accused that the police and the BJD workers worked together to block all the entry points to Hinjili.

Ganjam police superintendent Narasingh Bhol said that 12 platoons of police were deployed to prevent the teachers from entering Hinjili. Police detained seven teachers, including general secretary of the association Prasant Mohapatra. However, they were released later.

The agitating teachers took out a procession from the Jagannath temple at Gainchabania to the Hinjili block office at 11am. "But, the police prevented us from entering Hinjili. Police asked the teachers to return to their respective places and did not allow the private buses to enter Hinjili," alleged a member of the association.

"We had not given them any permission to organise any rally or procession in Hinjili. So, we checked all the vehicles at the entry points of Hinjili and prevented them from entering Hinjili," said inspector in charge Hinjili police station Prasant Kumar Sahu.

More than 31 thousand block grant teachers and employees of 2,608 high schools and middle English schools have been on strike since February 5 demanding abolition of the block grant system and implementation of full grant-in-aid. The teachers have also threatened to boycott the higher secondary examination if their demands were not met.<>"We will boycott the annual high school certificate examinations and the evaluation of papers as well," said Mohapatra.

About 150 Block Grant Teachers who were unable to enter Hinjili started dharna at Biju Patrnaik square in Aska for two hours and were forced by the police to disperse.

About 250 students faced difficulties in appearing Plus Three Arts/ Science and Commerce examinations of Berhampur University at Hinjili Science College. Some arrived late and some were unable to reach the examination hall due to absence of transport vehicles.

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