'Release pending salaries of part-time lecturers’

Members of the Akhila Karnataka Sarakari Polytechnic Arekalika Upanyasakara Sangha have alleged that they have not received honorarium / salary for the last several months in spite of repeated appeals to the government.

Speaking to reporters, Sangha’s president M Prashanth said that the salary had been delayed for several months. “Without salary we are finding it difficult to eke out our living especially during the pandemic. We have been denied of service letter, PF, ESI, leave facilities. When the colleges remained closed due to the pandemic, we had appealed to the chief minister, Higher Education minister, Technical Education department, Union HRD minister, and the National Human Rights Commission.”

There are 85 government polytechnics with 800 guest faculties teaching in the polytechnic colleges. There are 90 guest faculties teaching in polytechnics in Dakshina Kannada. The Technical Education department in October 2020 had stated that the honorarium has been partially released. When it failed to reach us, we met College and Technical Education Department commissioner Pradeep, who in turn, informed that the honorarium till March 2020 has been released and promised to look into why it has not reached the lecturers, he added.

“The lockdown had affected us badly. We will heave a sigh of relief if the pending salary is paid at the earliest,” he added