Teachers to protest shifting of DCE to Vikasa Soudha

The DCE has been allotted three rooms at the Vikasa Soudha — two on the second floor and one on the third.

“It is a canteen. Or at least the canteen area. The three rooms combined won’t be more than 2,500 sq ft. It’s an empty hall with one wash basin,” says a senior officer at the DCE.

‘Ridiculous to shift’

The officer adds: “Even after shifting temporarily to the Soudha building, it is ridiculous to shift again after two months to a Social Welfare office building near Race Course Road.”

On Monday, when the DCE staffers brought the issue to the notice of Minister for Higher Education V S Acharya, he assured them that the Heritage Building currently housing the DCE would not be allotted to the Election Commission.

H Prakash, president of the Karnataka Government College Teachers’ Association (KGCTA), says the minister had said the same thing on Saturday morning when a dozen teachers visited him at his residence.

“Ironically, the same afternoon, we received the official order from the DPAR asking us to shift to the Vikasa Soudha,” said Prakash.

While the DPAR order of August 20, 2011, clearly states that the rooms 218, 220 and 320 at the Vikasa Soudha have been allotted to DCE, the Election Commission officials are reluctant to confirm their shifting to the Heritage Building.

C S Suranjan, Chief Electoral Officer, told Deccan Herald: “We had asked for the Heritage Building and the Chief Election Commissioner gave the green singal. However, they (DCE) have to vacate and only then can we move in.”

But that does not seem an easy task considering the teachers’ associations across the State would boycott work if the State government did not withdraw the DPAR order.

The KGCTA and the 15,000 workers under it are also willing to go on a hunger strike in front of the DCE building if no positive response is given by the Higher Education Minister in the coming weeks.

The 63 officers and eight senior members, currently occupying 15 rooms at DCE Heritage  Building, are perplexed as to how the process of transferring files will be executed if they shift to the Vikasa Soudha.

M Nagaraj, president, BU College Teacher’s Association (BUCTA), said, “People come to the DCE office every day with various issues. Imagine them having to enter the office at the Vikasa Soudha amid high security and ID proof. Nobody will come there for two months.”