College teachers, staff hold massive rally in Bhubaneswar demanding equal pay

Members of the All Odisha 662 (+2, +3) Non-Government lecturers and Employees’ Association staged a massive rally in Bhubaneswar to press for their four-point charter of demands.

The protestors took out the unique rally from Master Canteen to Lower PMG by putting black tapes on their mouth. They shouted slogans against the Odisha government seeking fulfillment of their various demands.

The members of the association had started their day-night protests on February 13. After 15 days, the government called them for a discussion and gave them assurance of the fulfillment of their demands by March 10-12. However, nothing materialiaed and the association has intensified their protests now.

Among their major demands, the association has asked for equal pay for equal work.

“After going through a lot of hardships and protesting for long 53 days, the government didn’t keep its assurances to fulfill our demands. So we have started this massive rally to remind the government about its promise. We demand equal pay for equal work. We will continue our protests for the next three days. If the government fails again to keep its promise, we will boycott the evaluation of answer sheets,” said a protestor.

“We never want to fiddle with the future of the students. But the government has betrayed us by failing to fulfill its promise. If we boycott the evaluation process, the government will be responsible for it,” said another protestor.