Tripura CM likely to take steps for solving retrenched teachers’ problems after Durga puja

Agartala, Sep. 28 (PTI): Representatives of over 10,323 retrenched teachers of Tripura on Wednesday said Chief Minister Manik Saha assured them that he would convene an extended forum meeting’ involving legal experts after the Durga puja to find an amicable solution to their problem.

Sarkar met a delegation of the retrenched teachers two days after their march to the assembly demanding jobs in the government sector was stopped by the police. Several protesters were injured in the melee.

Leader of the Opposition Manik Sarkar and the lone Congress MLA Sudip Roy Barman condemned the police action and urged the chief minister to meet the agitating teachers. Accordingly, their representatives called on Sarkar on Wednesday.

We had a meeting with the chief minister in his office and told him our problems elaborately. He sought some papers related to our case to examine the demand for alternative jobs, Bijoy Krishna Saha, one of the terminated teachers, told reporters.

Advocate General Siddhartha Sankar Dey and Law Secretary Biswajit Palit were present at the meeting.

Another leader of the agitating teachers, Dalia Das, said the CM assured them to convene a meeting of an extended forum’ involving legal experts to discuss their problems and find a possible way out after the Durga puja.

The government has not made any statement on the meeting till the filing of this news report.

The assembly election is due in the Northeastern state early next year.

The Tripura High Court terminated a total of 10,323 school teachers due to their faulty recruitment process in 2014. These teachers were appointed in postgraduate, graduate, and undergraduate posts in different phases since 2010.

The Supreme Court upheld the high court’s order in 2017.

Of the 10,323 teachers, over 8,000 were reappointed on an ad-hoc basis, the tenure of which expired on March 31, 2020.