Irrespective of their party affiliations, members in the State Assembly on Wednesday expressed concern over the agitation of 23,000Gana Shikshaks and demanded their service regularisation.
Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, ruling BJD member Ranedra Pratap Swain drew the attention of the Speaker about the Gana Shikshaks’ demands in the House. He said that the School and Mass Education Minister on December 17, 2012 during the Winter Session of the Assembly had assured to regularise the services of those Gana Shikshaks, who have completed six years in service.
The Minister had in his statement assured that the process of formulating the career advancement policy would be done within two months time but did nothing, he lamented. Since the Government had not kept its promise, about 23,000 Gana Shikshaks are on strike, Swain said and urged the Speaker to direct the School and Mass Education Minister to make a statement in the House on the steps taken by the Government.
He was supported by party colleagues Amar Prasad Satpathy, Pravat Ranjan Biswal, Ananta Das, Jiban Pradip Das, Samir Ranjan Das, Prafula Samal, Padmanav Behera and Chandra Sarathi Behera.
Opposition Congress members including Santosh Singh Saluja, Rama Chandra Kadam, Naba Kishore Das, Surendra Pramanik, BJP floor leader KV Singh Deo, independent members Pratap Sarangi and Braja Kishore Pradhan also urged the Speaker to direct the Government to fulfill its promises. Due to the strike, study in primary schools has been affected, they said.