SURAT, Nov 24: A day after three teachers of Shree Swami Narayan Vidyalay began a fast-unto-death in front of the collectorate to highlight their alleged harassment by the management, the district authorities have decided to intervene to help resolve the issue.The authorities have called teachers as well as the school management for a meeting to be held in the collectorate on November 25. The agitated teachers alleged that the management had not paid them for the last four months despite having put in seven years of service.Meanwhile, one more teacher joined the indefinite strike on Tuesday, while six others undertook a token hunger strike. On Monday, the management had served a show cause notice on Ashok Patil, leader of agitating teachers. The school principal Prafulbhai said, ``The agitating teachers are demanding implementation of the Fifth Pay Commission's recommendations which the school management cannot afford to pay. Higher salary can be paid only if fee is hiked which we cannot do. Mostly poor children study in our school and their parents cannot pay higher fees''.Asked why the issue was not resolved at the school level, the principal claimed that Patil had refused to negotiate with the management.
