Inter-Ministerial Committee Meeting Fails, Block Grant Teachers To Intensify Stir

Bhubaneswar: The joint forum of the Odisha Block Grant School College Teachers and Employees on Wednesday decided to further intensify its agitation across the state after the inter-ministerial committee meeting remained inconclusive.

“They told us to accept the decision of the state government taken on 2017 as it cannot be changed right now under any circumstances. They asked us to give a three-month time for a change in the decision. We did not agree to their suggestion and gave them a week’s time to take a final decision. It is now clear that the government is not willing to fulfil our demands. There is no point in seeking for a three-month time as these can be decided in a couple of days. Moreover, the agitation is not in our hands anymore as it has already spread to the rural areas. We will further intensify our agitation and if necessary, we will tender mass resignation,” convenor of the forum Golakh Nayak told mediapersons here.

In his reaction, Pabitra Mahala, another convenor of the forum, said that during the meeting with the inter-ministerial committee, it became amply clear that the state government had called the forum representatives under pressure as the matter was discussed in the State Assembly and the Speaker had directed the School and Mass Education minister to furnish a reply on the issues of the teachers.

“The agitation is on and we are trying to convert it into a mass agitation across the state and force the government to fulfil our demands else we will decide the fate of the government in the forthcoming Assembly election,” he pointed out.

“The demands of the Block Grant teachers cannot be taken by the School and Mass Education department. The government will take a decision after taking the inputs from the forum representatives. We have requested the teachers to come under the grant-in-aid code according to the Supreme Court directive,” Finance Minister Sashi Bhusan Behera told mediapersons after the meeting.

School and Mass Education minister Badri Narayan Patra said that he has requested the teachers to withdraw the agitation and discuss the issue with the state government. “We had asked them to give us three months time. But they told me to fulfil their demands in seven days which is not possible,” he noted.

Meanwhile, the forum, at its steering committee meeting in the evening, decided its future course of action. Briefing the media after the meeting, the convenors of the forum said that the forum has decided to intensify its agitation across the state from Monday.

“The agitation would continue in the state capital till Sunday and celebrate the Ganesh Puja and Nuakhai festival on the Mahatma Gandhi Road near the State Assembly. From Monday onwards, the forum will begin padayatra in all panchayats and conduct meetings. This will continue till the state government fulfils its demands,” they added.