Block grant teachers worship Ganesh on road, decide to continue stir

Bhubaneswar: Following a high-level meeting between the State government officials and teachers ended inconclusive on Thursday, agitating teaching staff of block grant of schools and colleges today worshipped Lord Ganesh on road at the Lower PMG in Bhubaneswar.

Teachers blew conchs amid chanting of priests and worshipped the Lord at the dharna site on Mahatma Gandhi Road. The scene was similar to the Ganesh Puja celebration at educational institutions.

A striking teacher said, “The State govt has snatched away our rights to celebrate the occasion with our students. We have been staging the protest since August 16, but the government is yet to take any measure.”

He added, “We prayed before the god may wisdom prevails and the State government abolish the block grant system.”

Another teacher stated students have also lent their support to the just demands.

The Odisha School College Teachers and Employees Joint Forum has decided to continue their nine-day agitation after their meeting with the State Government did not yield any fruit on Thursday.

But as the discussion remained inconclusive, it was rescheduled to August 28.

The meeting was attended by Higher Education Minister Ananta Das, Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi, Development Commissioner R Balakrishnan, Finance Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey, MLAs Arun Sahu and Pranab Prakash Das.

The block grant teachers were represented by Convenor of School Teachers Federation of Odisha (STFO) Prakash Chandra Mohanty, President of 662-category College Lecturers Association Golak Nayak and President of 488-category College Lecturers Association Pabitra Mahala.

Talking to media, STFO Convenor Prakash Chandra Mohanty said, "The government has agreed to abolish block grant system but there are some of our other demands to be decided on that including provision of full aid with retrospective effect."

Earlier on Wednesday, the block grant teachers had threatened the Odisha government to turn their strike into a state-wide agitation and ensure the ruling-BJD is voted out of power in 2019 general elections if their demands are not met.