Navi Mumbai: Teachers go on hunger strike to protest against management over years of due salary

Teachers from Shantiniketan polytechnic college in New Panvel have been on hunger strike for the last six days. The teachers alleged the management had due their salary from the last 8 to 10 years. However, Rajesh Pawar, the Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from (Naigaon) Nanded who owned the college claims the allegation to be baseless and the teachers are trying to defame the college and the MLA.

On February 24, among the 17 teaching and non-teaching faculties, two of them including Amol Deshmukh and Swapnil Bhoir went on a hunger strike. On Tuesday two women teachers joined them.

The teachers had been complaining about the malpractice for many years. In the past few years, they have also written to chief ministers, education ministers and departments of technical institutes to others but with no response from anywhere, they have taken the extreme step to go on hunger strike.

In the complaint to the ministers and technical department, the teachers claimed most of them had joined the institute from 2012 to 2014. "But till date, they had not received a salary as per the appointment letter. Also, after a lockdown in the past 8 months or a year, the management had not paid them their salary as they raise the issue about the due over the salary. Also, the teacher claims those who raise voice against the management are either fired or threatened," said a teacher on condition of anonymity.

The teachers complained after their meeting with the education department, whom they had approached. An inquiry committee from the Department of technical education and Maharashtra State Board of Technical held a meeting at the college on December 17, 2021, in the first week of January 2022. "We produced all the documents including the salary slip and bank account details to prove the due. However, the management was not available to meet us and MLA Pawar sent his personal assistant who took time for the same. No response or relief came to us," added the teacher.

Speaking for MLA Pawar, the secretary of the polytechnic college said, "The allegations made by the teachers are baseless. How can an employee work without being paid for so many years? They are trying to defame us by using hunger strike techniques and are pressuring us to gain more income. During the meeting of the Department of technical education, we asked them to produce the syllabus they taught to the kids. But they don't have it. They skip class for the kids and are asking for the salary. We will file a defamation case against them as their allegations are baseless," added Pawar.