‘FEAR OF COVID KEPT TEACHERS FROM POLL DUTY’

THANE: An inquiry into the 91 employees, all teachers who remained absent from election duty, by Murbad police revealed that the reason for their absence was the fear of Covid-19.

The authorities claiming this reason as a mere excuse have asked the education officer from the zilla parishad to take action against them.

Several teachers on election duty did not report to their respective centres in Bhiwandi, Ambernath and Murbad on the day of gram panchayat elections on January 15. Most of them were from Murbad, where 91 election-duty employees did not attend duty leading to a lot of chaos on the day of elections.

Amol Kadam, tehsildar of Murbad, wrote to the police and district authorities seeking strict action against these teachers from different schools.

He said, “The behaviour of all the 91 teachers was highly unprofessional. No one informed us beforehand and we had to face acute staff crunch on the day of elections. Moreover, their reasons to remain at home were found to be unsatisfactory. Majority of them were found to stay at home fearing Covid.”

Kadam said that they had asked the police to file cases against these teachers. However, the union approached the tehsil requesting leniency against the teachers. Kadam has asked the education officer of Zilla Parishad in Thane to take appropriate action.

Bhiwandi tehsildar Aadik Patil said, “Some of the election duty officers were not present without informing authority but as our wards got reduced, we didn’t suffer any problem and hence no action is initiated.”