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Kolkata Police Lathi Charge at Protesting Computer Teachers

The agitators have hinted that the payment of meagre salaries is part of a concerted scam, aided by the ruling parties of the state and the country – Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party.
Kolkata Police Lathi Charge at Protesting Computer Teachers

Kolkata: The police lathi charged at about 4,000 computer teachers, mostly qualified with MCA or engineering degrees, who had sat on a dharna on Monday before a contractual service provider’s office in Kolkata, demanding payment of their full salaries.

The protesters – most of whom were in their twenties or early thirties – work in different government and government-aided schools in West Bengal.

The state government channelises the fund it receives for the IT literacy project from the Centre through the contractual service provider, which is entrusted with the responsibility of paying salaries of about 4,600 teachers.

The agitators have hinted that the payment of meagre salaries is part of a concerted scam, aided by the ruling parties of the state and the country – Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party.

Interestingly, while the government records show an yearly disbursal of nearly Rs 3,69,000 per teacher, they were in fact paid only Rs 4,600 per month or Rs 55,200 annually.

Peeved at this mammoth gap and the meagre pay, the teachers – most of them women – started agitating in front of the office the service provider. The police reportedly tried to forcefully remove them from the spot at first. However, upon their resistance, the police resorted to lathi charge. The police beat the teachers black and blue. This reporter witnessed a number of teachers being dragged mercilessly to the police vehicles after having been beaten up, aided by male constables. About 15 teachers have been seriously injured while many of them have fractured bones.

Later, Rekha Biswas, a computer teacher, who too was profusely bleeding told Newsclick: “Leaders from both the ruling parties are involved in a huge scam, which is depriving the teachers”.

According to an official from the service provider organisation, which acts as an intermediary, the number of teachers recruited has exceeded the estimate, and hence, the bifurcation of funds has taken place.However, when questioned whether this is against the law, the official went incommunicado.

The agitators have also alleged that to suppress the protests, a ruling party leader had instructed the police to evict the teachers, before it is covered by the media. “We feel that the government is too concerned about the elections, and is trying to suppress our voice hence,” said Bikash Mondal.

They agitators also claimed that crores of rupees per month has been earned by the intermediaries, a portion of which goes to bribes. “And the teachers are being deprived, who are paid meagrely. We are made to stay for the whole school hours and are also asked to take additional classes for other subjects by the school authorities,” claimed Mondal.

Also read: #WorkersStrikeBack: Bengal Workers Brave Police Repression to Make Historic Strike A Success

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