Sacked SSC teachers from Bengal seek PM Modi's intervention, request meeting during Alipurduar visit

Kolkata: A group of sacked school teachers have sought a five-minute meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his scheduled visit to Alipurduar on Thursday, urging him to intervene and resolve their crisis.

The teachers, whose appointments were cancelled following a Supreme Court order last month citing large-scale irregularities in the recruitment process, have already arrived in Alipurduar in north Bengal.

They have submitted letters to the district administration, the local MP, and the BJP district president, requesting a brief meeting with the PM to present their case.

Modi is scheduled to visit West Bengal on Thursday, during which he will lay the foundation stone of a gas distribution project and address a public rally in Alipurduar district.

"We want to meet the Prime Minister in Alipurduar. We have written to the local MP, BJP's district president and the district magistrate. We request the PM to speak to us and help resolve our issue," said Chinmoy Mondal, one of the affected teachers.

With no official word yet from West Bengal BJP on whether the PM will meet them, the aggrieved teachers are likely to meet state BJP president and Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar on Wednesday evening in a last-ditch effort to press for an audience with Modi.

The Supreme Court, in its April 3 verdict, had cancelled the appointments of over 25,000 teaching and non-teaching staff, citing irregularities in the recruitment process.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said her government would begin fresh teacher recruitment as per the Supreme Court order while filing a review plea for reinstating terminated candidates, a move slammed by agitating teachers as a "death warrant" for thousands of aspirants.

Addressing a press conference at the state secretariat Nabanna, Banerjee said a notification for the fresh recruitment will be issued by May 31, as mandated by the apex court.

She assured that age relaxation and weightage for prior work experience will be given to all terminated teaching and non-teaching staff in the new selection process.

Her remarks, however, drew a sharp response from agitating teachers who called the government's move a "death warrant" for thousands of eligible candidates who were terminated, and said they felt "disappointed and shattered."

"By forcing us to reappear in exams, the government is pushing us towards death. Who will take responsibility if anyone harms themselves under mental pressure? What will happen to those who fail in the new test? There are too many unanswered questions. If the government really wants to help, it should sit down with us and give us answers," a spokesperson for the aggrieved group told reporters.