Chandigarh – On a call given by the PCCTU, the teachers of all the aided colleges of Chandigarh joined their colleagues of Punjab and observed two hours strike (from 11am to 1pm) today. This followed the two hours strike they had observed on Saturday 29 Nov. The teachers are agitating because even after many years of promises, the Punjab government had failed to implement the already notified pension scheme for the college teachers.
Prof. Ghanshyam Dev, President, Chandigarh District Council of the PCCTU said, ‘The Pension and Gratuity Act passed by the Akali-BJP Government in 1999 still remains unimplemented. Punjab is the only large state not to grant any pension to the employees of the aided colleges."
He further said, "The Akali-BJP Government had even this time promised in its election manifesto that pension will be granted to the college teachers. However, despite repeated assurances they had failed to do so. If the Government fails to take positive action immediately, the PCCTU will hold a state-level rally on November 8, 2011 at Batala and further intensify the agitation."
The other demands of the teachers include lifting ban on recruitments, extension of date for refresher courses as per UGC guidelines, disbursement of arrears due on account of revision of pay scales, enhancement of retirement age to 65 years as per Central Govt. Notification, inclusion of teachers working against un-aided posts in the ambit of the Punjab Affiliated Colleges (Security of Service) Act 1974, regular and timely disbursement of grant under 95% grant-in-aid scheme, etc.
