Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Feb 2: The State High School Teachers Association’s Dakshina Kannada district unit has warned that the teachers will launch hunger strike in front of the office of the district deputy commissioner here from February 8 onwards, if the government fails to make payment of the salaries standing unpaid to them since the last five months.

Over 100 teachers submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner, V Ponnuraj, on Monday February 1, demanding an early solution to the problem. The Association’s district president, Ramakrishna Shirur, said that the salaries of the teachers coming under the grants of taluk and zilla panchayats have not been paid since the last five months, as a result of which, the teachers find it hard to feed their families. They also are forced to teach with hungry stomachs,” he claimed.

He felt that undertaking hunger strike is the only option left for them, as the requests earlier made to the primary and secondary education minister, Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri, MLC, Capt Ganesh Karnik and Dakshina Kannada zilla panchayat president, Santosh Kumar Bhandary, have failed to yield any results. Some teachers said that they have to spend heavily on bus fare to reach their schools located in far off places and non-payment of salaries has hurt them very much, and that they find it hard to meet the needs of their children. Ronald Fernandes, member of the state council of the State Government Employees Association, said that the teachers are compelled to pay heavy interest on overdue amount in respect of water rate and risk disconnection in case of non-payment of electricity bills.

The zilla panchayat said that a new proposal has been sent to the government and the teachers will get their dues as soon as this money is released. The district faces funds crunch as people with higher basic pay were deployed in high schools, it added.