More than a 100 staff of Punjab government-run Baba Hira Singh Bhattal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Lehragaga, on Thursday launched a pakka dharna in front of the office of the Sunam Sub-Divisional Magistrate to demand their pending salaries, which they said had not been paid for close to 35 months. The protest, which saw support from BKU-Ugrahan, comes nearly a month after a 35-year-old employee of the institute, Devinder Verma, had died by suicide after not being able to meet his daily expenses. "The college staff have not been paid any salaries for the past 35 months and a distressed employee, working as a clerk, in the college had died by suicide by hanging himself from the cieling fan of his home within the campus on March 29. We had staged dharna on the main highway on that day. But later, we had been assured by the Deputy Commissioner of Sangrur that salaries for 6 months will be transferred in our accounts within 24 hours and we called off our protests. However, till date not a single penny has been transferred . hence, he ahve decided to launch an indefinite dharna outside the SDM's office from Thursday onwards," said Kamal Garg, president of the joint action committee of the employees. Sources said that the Baba Hira Singh Bhattal Institute of Engineering and Technology was a self financing institute and is dependent on fee collection from the students for sustenance. "Over the years, the number of students in the college have reduced as students leave for foreign countries. Hence, we have not been able to sustain our expenses, due to which we are not able get salaries. But this is a government institute, and hence they should help the staff," said one of the protesting staff members. Reports showed that most of the engineering students from the college have been shifted to other institutes, leaving just 70 students in the institute. "The government has not chalked out a plan as to how to run this institute. They are neither paying salaries to staff nor are they adjusting them in other colleges," said another joint action committee member. Garg added that the AAP after coming to power had promised to pay them at least 6 months salary by the end of March. However, the government had not only failed to keep its promise, but it had also stopped responding to us altogether. The district administration had given Rs 10 lakh as compensation to the family of Devinder Verma after his suicide, post which the protesters had lifted the dharna from the highway. "Local MLA Varinder Goyal and administrative authorities had assured us that the entire 35 months worth of pending salary will be transferred to Devinder's account within 24 hours and 6 months of salary will be transferred to the rest of the staff. They had also assured that a job will be provided to the wife of Devinder, as well as all his outstanding loans, amounting to Rs 10 lakh, would be taken care of by the administration. However, they did not honour their word," Garg added. Amandeep Kaur, the wife of Devinder, said,"It is insensitive on the part of government to not have given the outstanding dues of my husband even after he died by suicide. The outstanding loans are haunting me. I have no source of income now."
