The association of laboratory/ office assistants employed under Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) undertook a march to the Secretariat on Monday in support of their single point agenda of reinstatement of their services. The members of the association gathered at old Raipur bus stand on Monday, from where they marched towards State Secretariat. The police personnel deployed in front of the Secretariat however stopped their onward march where a minor scuffle occurred between the agitated members and police.

The members expressed their resentment over the fact that five youths are sitting on an indefinite fast from many days but the State Government is not paying any heed towards their genuine demands. Addressing the agitators, the president of the association Gambhir Singh Bisht said that education department had recently removed 1,256 outsource employees as the Central Government had stopped funding their salaries.

He said that the arbitrary decision of removal by the State Government has put the livelihood of hundreds of people in peril.  Bisht said that the 1,256 office and laboratory assistants were working in different parts of the State from last three years and the Government’s decision has forced them to adopt the path of agitation. The president of the association said that the State Government should immediately cancel the letter sent to the heads of the school and create new contractual posts for them. Bisht threatened that the members of the association would be forced to intensify their agitation if their demand is not accepted.