Visiting PM obliges shiksha mitras with an appointment in Kashi today

LUCKNOW/VARANASI: Amid reports of three more shiksha mitras dying of heart attack and 26 others taking ill, the Varanasi administration on Thursday succeeded in fixing an appointment of the agitating para teachers with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi on Friday.

Now, a six-member delegation, comprising Adarsh Siksha Mitra Welfare Association president Jeetendra Shahi, Varanasi district unit president Amrendra Dubey, city unit president Dhananjay Singh, district unit secretary Pramod Singh and Anita Srivastava, will get to meet the PM, confirmed Varanasi DM Rajmani Yadav.

The DM also appealed to the “upset and angry” para teachers to maintain peace.

Shiksha mitras, however, said they would decide further course of action after holding dialogue with the PM.

“Three shiksha mitras in Azamgarh, Deoria and Kasganj died due of heart attack while in Shahjahanpur and several other places across the state nearly 26 para teachers have taken ill; some of them are serious,” said Gazi Imam Ala of the Uttar Pradesh Prathmik Shiksha Mitra Shikshak Sangh.

Jitendra Shahi also confirmed the deaths though he said that “official confirmation is of only two deaths on Thursday -- in Kasganj and Azamgarh.” The UP government has already announced Rs 5 lakh compensation to the kin of those teachers who meet an “unnatural death.”

Asked what he would be telling the PM in case he got to meet him, Gazi said, “In Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra the NCTE and HRD never had a problem with the regularization but in UP the NCTE played foul which led to the High Court quashing the regularization that has brought untold miseries to the 1.7 lakh teachers and their families. So we would be seeking the PM’s intervention on the issue.” Shahi on the other hand would be telling the PM the need to provide powers to the state government to have a say in the appointment and regularization of shiksha mitras.

Earlier, the DM sent a letter to the PMO, apprising them about shiksha mitras’ demand to meet the PM.

After getting a green signal from the PMO, the district administration issued passes to the members of the delegations.

It may be pointed out that shiksha mitras staged a massive demonstration at local PMO in Ravindrapuri in Varanasi and sought euthanasia.

DM has appealed to the shiksha mitra to not move to Varanasi on September 18 in order to maintain peace.

Meanwhile, over 3,000 shiksha mitras from Allahabad have left for Varanasi on Thursday after participating in a silent protest in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue at Balson crossing. After participating in the protest, they went to Chandra Shekhar Azad Park and held a meeting to chalk out future course of action.