Another death amid denial

With this the total number of teachers who have died so far for various reasons arising out of the problem of not getting their salaries has touched 15, while another 32 working in corporations have died for the same reason since the Indian Express exposed the tragedy three months ago.

Meanwhile, the Bihar government has protested against an Express report on November 24 which mentioned a government report on the deaths. A government release said Chief Minister Rabri Devi had neither admitted nor confirmed the ‘‘deaths’’ and ‘‘suicides’’ as mentioned in the story.

It said the government was in the process of collecting reports from heads of various public sector undertakings to file a counter-affidavit with regard to a PIL filed in the Supreme Court alleging the deaths were due to non-payment of salaries.

In Patna, resentment is brewing among teachers over the latest incident. Asim’s friends said his family has been borrowing from relatives for daily treatment that included an injection costing Rs 10,000 every week. His wife, Khurshida, a teacher at a government middle school — unlike the case in minority schools, government school salaries are transferred directly from the state treasury — was running the household. ‘‘We wrote to the state government and met the health minister. But no money was released,’’ said Mohammed Naqui Imam, principal of Asim’s school.

The government is supposed to pay the teachers, while the trust that runs the school pays for everything else. Since the government has not released any funds so far, the trust had started giving Rs 2,000 per teacher every month for food.

‘‘The government owed Asim around Rs 2 lakh. He could have used that sum and managed the rest,’’ said an angry Imam. ‘‘We took care of the children and ensured that they remain in school. We couldn’t do more,’’ he said.

Rabri Devi has announced that salaries would be given in time for Id but teachers are sceptical. ‘‘The government made this promise but the file is stuck somewhere. Teachers of minority high schools haven’t been paid for 10 to 32 months,’’ said Nasim Ahmed, a spokesman for the Bihar Minority Middle School Association.

In Bihar, the government releases funds for salaries twice a year. This year no funds have been released so far. ‘‘The government has money but they are not releasing it,’’ said Kedar Pandey, General Secretary of the Bihar State Secondary School Teachers’ Association. The teachers now plan to gherao the CM on December 11 when the Assembly session starts.

The November 24 report that appeared in this paper had mentioned a list that admitted 32 employees working in the corporations had died due to non-payment of salary. Seven employees and two women — wives of the affected employees — from the Bihar State Handloom and Handicrafts Corporation and 23 employees from the Bihar State Small Scale Industries Development Board.

Ironically, the employees of the State Sugar Corporation also issued a statement on the day the report came out that 363 employees serving in the public undertakings had died due to non-payment of salary. A meeting was organised by the Bihar Rajya Chini Udyog Bachao Sangarsh Samiti. The list has been sent to SC lawyer Kapila Hingorani who has filed the PIL in the apex court. The statement said that 54 employees died at Motipur in Muzzafarpur alone.