Teachers say state govt smug, to persist with agitation

November 25: It's the first major policy decision to be taken by the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government. The move to pay the ...

November 25: It8217;s the first major policy decision to be taken by the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party government. The move to pay the teaching staff of all degree colleges and universities in the state a pay hike as per the revised recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission with effect from January 1 1996 may seem sudden. But, the decision seems to have its roots in a circular issued by the central government rather than in an attitude change by the state government.

The higher and technical education minister and nationalist Congress Party NCP man Dilip Valse-Patil said, 8220;Paying teachers as per the fifth pay commission has been our stand right from the beginning. So the moment we took over the government, we took up the matter.8221; Was it just that or the urgency of returning the money that the Central government paid to the state government following the country-wide degree college and university teachers8217; strike? In October, the union Human Resource Department HRD department issued circulars toall defaulting states that they either pay up the teachers by the end of the year or return the money to the central government8217;s fund. Of this, Maharashtra8217;s share is Rs 720 crore.

Valse-Patil, while strongly denying that returning the money had anything to do with the pay hike, maintained that 8220;When the central government is assisting in a project, what is the point in forfeiting it? In any case, we are keen on paying the teachers.8221;

Teachers are happy, but apprehensive about what they are in for. Which is why the Maharashtra Federation of University and College Teachers Organisation MFUCTO, which had announced an agitation from December 8, is yet to formally withdrawn its agitation. According to the organisation8217;s president C R Sadasivan, the announcement is as much a function of the circular as of their indefinite agitation. 8220;In our meetings with the present minister, we have told him that the December 8 agitation is not negotiable,8221; he said.

It has been 13 months since the central governmentaccepted the demands of the degree college teachers on September 5, 1998 that the state government announced the payscales. It only reflects the apathy with which teachers are treated because, the state has to pay just 20 per cent of what would be incurred by this decision. The same state government has paid its employees out of its own coffers as per the Fifth pay Commission recommendations.

The sincerity8217; of the state government is reflected in the notice issued Valse-Patil8217;s office received today by MFUCTO to have a dialogue with the former on December 9, a day after their publicised December 8 agitation. 8220;Had the government been keen enough to avoid the agitation, the minister could have surely met us before itself as he had earlier promised and spoken about the payscales. We are certainly not meeting him on December 9,8221; declared Sadasivan.

Thanks to the former Sena-BJP government8217;s dithering over announcing a pay hike, the present government will now have to pay the enhanced salaries with effectfrom 1996.