Hindustan Times (Amritsar)

2,200 Punjab contractua­l teachers without pay

WITHOUT SALARY FOR 10 MONTHS Mastercadr­e teachers were to get regular job at the expiry of threeyear contract in November last year

- Prabhjit Singh prabhjit.singh@hindustant­imes.com ■

BATHINDA: The Punjab government is in a fix over the job status of 2,200 master-cadre contractua­l school teachers who have not been paid salary since November last year when their three-year contract had expired. These teachers were supposed to get their regular job at the expiry of the contract, but that hasn’t happened to date.

BATHINDA : The Punjab government is in a fix over the job status of 2,200 master-cadre contractua­l school teachers who have not been paid salary since November last year when their three-year contract had expired.

They were supposed to get regular job at the expiry of the contract, but that hasn’t happened to date.

On Tuesday, finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal gave a royal ignore to the teachers, who were demanding regular job as per the conditions notified during their appointmen­t in November 2014. The protesting teachers also burnt an effigy of the state government in front of the Congress office here.

The contractua­l teachers have not been paid their salary of ₹8,000 for 10 months now.

The matter will come up in the Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, where school education minister OP Soni will apprise the council of ministers of the issue.

“Their salaries are being disbursed from this month and we are also taking up the matter in the cabinet meeting on Wednesday. Let us see what happens,” Soni said. The issue of regularisi­ng their job is pending with the finance department.

Manpreet Badal couldn’t be reached for a comment and his personal assistant didn’t revert to message seeking the minister’s version.

Besides these 2,200 mastercadr­e teachers, the two-year contractua­l period of 6,500 primary school teachers also expires this month and they too are looking for regular job as per the state’s notificati­on during their recruitmen­t in September-November 2016.

The master-cadre teachers also staged protest in Patiala and Amritsar.

 ?? SANJEEV KUMAR/HT ?? ■ Contractua­l school teachers holding a protest at Hanuman Chowk in Bathinda on Tuesday.
SANJEEV KUMAR/HT ■ Contractua­l school teachers holding a protest at Hanuman Chowk in Bathinda on Tuesday.

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