Jobless Teachers Protest, Scuffle With Police At Bikash Bhawan; TMC Leader Gheraoed

Kolkata: Tension prevailed in Bikash Bhawan on Thursday following a scuffle that broke out between the officers of the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate and the unemployed teachers.

Several agitating teachers entered the premises of education department headquarters in Salt Lake after crossing the police barricades and security cordons and slogans of "Chor Chor" (thief-thief) were raised against Bidhannagar chairman and TMC leader Sabyasachi Dutta.

Jobless teachers under the banner of 'Qualified Teachers' Adhikar Mancha', who had been staging sit-in-demonstration outside Bikash Bhawan, gave a call for 'Bikash Bhawan Abhijan'. As scheduled hundreds of teachers gathered near Bikash Bhawan and started marching towards multiple gates of the building. Following police resistance, a scuffle broke out between the police and the agitators.

After this, they crossed the main entrance and entered the premises. Their protest is over seven demands, the primary being retention of their jobs with dignity. Amid this, when TMC leader Sabyasachi Dutta came to the spot, the jobless teachers started protesting around his car and raising slogans against him.

These protesting teachers had been sitting in front of the SSC building from April 21 to 24 and then from May 7, they launched a sit-in protest and gave a call for 'Bikash Bhawan Abhijan' on May 15.

The protest led to chaos at the Bikash Bhawan. Apart from retention of their jobs, the protesting teachers have demanded that the government should take responsibility for resolving legal processes including reviews and SSC should publish the correct list of qualified and ineligible candidates.

Mehboob Mandal, convener of the 'Qualified Teachers' Adhikar Mancha' said, "We have waited for a long time. The state government has been given freedom to take action but not any longer. Arrangements have to be made to return our jobs with dignity. If the government cannot make arrangements, then what is the point of keeping or having these offices?"

Nearly 26,000 SSC-recruited teaching and non-teaching staff lost their jobs following a Supreme Court order on April 3. The state government assured them of support and the education minister had told them that review petitions would be filed. However, the agitating teachers are alleging that the government did not do anything for them.

A total of 15,403 teachers were identified as "not found to be specially tainted" and 1,804 others were not allowed to return to school.