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Aggrieved Hindi teachers on Day-3 of their third phase agitation in Kohima on March 17.[/caption]
Kohima, March 17: Following assurance from the government to clear all pending salaries by April 2017 besides clearing the two month salary during March, the agitating a pacified CSS Hindi teachers decided to call off the ongoing agitation.
The decision was taken after a meeting between the chief minister, minister of School Education, Finance department, chief secretary and representatives of All Nagaland Hindi Teachers Union (ANHTU) on March 17.
Reading out the assurance letter of the government addressed to ANHTU president and signed by chief secretary, Pankaj Kumar, Principal Secretary School Education, FP Solo, said the remaining pending salary will be paid within April 2017 based on release of funds by the Ministry of Human Resources Development, GoI.
He also informed the agitators that the Ministry has released on Rs 6 crores against the requirement of 50 crores, which does not even cover the two months salary of the teachers.
Requesting the teachers to call off the agitation, the letter assured that ‘if there is delay in release of funds by MoHRD, GoI, the State government shall release pending two-month salary from the State budget at a time from April 2017 onwards till all dues are cleared.’
Meanwhile with the contract of the CSS Hindi teachers ending on March 31, Solo informed the teachers that the cabinet has given a positive response to absorb the Hindi teachers as employees of the State government, which will be passed in the Assembly soon.
Earlier during the day, with the cabinet meeting going on for hours together, the angry and frustrated agitators lost patience and forced their way through the entrance gate to the main gate of the Civil Secretariat, despite the presence of security personnel.
The Civil Secretariat resounded with the chanting of protestors, ‘We want justice,’ ‘Nagaland government down, down,’ ‘Nagaland government is blind and deaf’ etc.
The angry protestors even shouted ‘Did they (ministers) get the time to hold the meeting only today? What were they doing all these time?’
Though there were some minor confrontations as the agitators forced their way to the main gate of the Secretariat, the agitation passed off without any major incident.
In a separate statement, minister for School Education, Yitachu, assured that the State government will pay the salaries of the CSS Hindi teachers from the State Exchequer.
In a statement, Yitachu said even as the funds for payment of CSS Hindi teachers’ salaries has not been released by the Central government, the same would be paid from the State Exchequer for two months per month starting this month. He assured that the payment would continue till their pending salaries are cleared.
Nonetheless, expressing hope that the Union Ministry of Human Resources Development would be releasing the funds for payment of salaries to CSS Hindi teachers by next month, Yitachu said ‘once the fund is received by the State, the entire amount of pending salaries would be cleared, while those paid from the State Exchequer would be recovered.’
Meanwhile, the minister acknowledged the State government and Finance Department for understanding and releasing funds to pay to the agitating Hindi teachers. He also expressed gratitude to the ANHTU for accepting the offer and agreeing to call off the agitation.
