Owais Gul
Srinagar: While Sarva Shikhsha Abhiyaan (SSA) teachers consistently protest in the middle of the City demanding 7th pay commission benefits and de-linking of their monthly salaries from MHRD funding, their overall health condition is deteriorating as they enter day 10 of their indefinite hunger strike.
Around 41000 SSA teachers are currently on hunger strike to press the government over their demands.
Dozens of teachers can be seen lying in a small tent pegged in Srinagar’s Pratap Park where many politicians, Hurriyat leaders, Civil Society members and government employees visited them and expressed solidarity with them.
The tent pegged by the protesting teachers resembles mini hospital as scores of empty ‘glucose drip’ could be seen hanging on the rope inside the tent.
The condition of dozens of teachers got deteriorated since past ten days, said Ghulam Nabi of Bandipora, a protesting teacher.
While talking to this reporter, Nabi who is currently posted at Govt Middle school Boys Bandipora said that the condition of dozens of protesting teachers has got deteriorated who were rushed to the hospital for treatment.
“The ailing protesters were later sent back to their respective homes,” Nabi said, adding that the protesting teachers are changing their shifts after every 48 hours, saying that they don’t even take a glass of water during the period of 48 hours.
He informed that several mainstream politicians, government employees, civil Society members met them at Pratap Park since last 48 hours who also expressed their sympathy with them.
“W won’t call of the hunger strike until and unless the government will come up with any concrete decision over our demands,” he said, adding that though mainstream politicians do visit them at the protesting venue but it is the outcome of their failure that the fate of teachers are hanging in balance.
“All I can say that they are playing politics with our future,” he said, urging the Governor led administration to take a favourable decision at an earliest.
He informed that the SSA teachers are on hunger strike under the banner of Teachers Joint Action Committee (TJAC) and the leadership has decided to carry out a rally on Sunday here as well as in Jammu where protest entered in day 13.
Nabi further said that all the employees from the education department will be participating in the protest rally on Sunday to press for the demands of SSA teachers.
Asked whether any official visited them, he said that nobody visited the protesting teachers but the leadership was called twice so far but nothing favourable has been done. “We hope that the administration will look into the demands of teachers seriously and will fulfill our demands,” he said.
