JOIN USPre-university lecturers, who have been protesting at the Freedom Park here for the past 11 days demanding better salaries, vented their frustration at visiting MLCs by hurling shoes at them on Thursday.
Following the failure of yet another round of talks with the government on Wednesday night over their demand for an increase in basic pay, the lecturers had decided to go on hunger strike. They have vowed to boycott evaluation of II PUC examination answer scripts that starts on Saturday.
“I can understand the feeling of anger among lecturers. After sitting in protest for days and getting no result, they are bound to get angry,” said Ganesh Karnik, one of the MLCs who visited the lecturers. The protesters also forced the MLCs out of the venue. Besides Karnik, Arun Shahapur and Amarnath Patil were the other MLCs who visited the protest venue.
Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education Kimmane Ratnakar said he tried his best to get at least two increments (of Rs 600 each) in the basic pay of PU lecturers. But the Finance Department didn’t agree, he said.
When asked if the Essential Services Maintenance Act would be invoked against the striking lecturers, Ratnakar said, “We don’t indent to do that. However, if they (striking lecturers) attempt to disrupt evaluation, we will have to think about it,” he said.
Ratnakar assured that “sufficient time” was available to finish the evaluation and declare the results on time. “In order to complete the evaluation, we need only 12 days. Ten days will be for evaluation and two days for coding and other processes. If there is a shortage of evaluators, we can take another five days. CET results will be declared only by the end of May and we have to declare II PU results before that,” he said.