Hundreds of teachers of the Berhampur University have been staging a dharna here since Tuesday in response to the call given by the All Odisha University Teachers Federation (FOUTA) to press for their demands.
Teachers wore black badges and sat on a dharna in front of the Vice-Chancellor’s office protesting non-fulfillment of their genuine demands since long.
“Even though teachers have submitted demands long back, the Government is yet to pay any heed and attempting to foil the agitation. The dharna will continue till September 4 if our demands remain unheeded,” Berhampur University Teachers’ Association president Prof Aswini Kumar Panda.
He said the teachers would be forced to resort to complete cease-work with effect from September 11 and hold a protest rally at Bhubaneswar to mount pressure on the Government.
Their key demands include provision of benefits to teachers as per the 2010-UGC guidelines, implementation of Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) for promotion and increase of retirement age limit from 60 to 65 years, said Teachers Association vice-president Prof Dibakar Panigrahi.
“There is a discontentment among the faculty members of all the universities over delay in fulfillment of these demands,” said Panigrahi. All the teachers of the Brahmapur University have unanimously endorsed the demands and the call given by the FOUTA, sources said.
Criticising divide and discriminatory principle of the State Government, former State Assembly Deputy Speaker and BJP Spokesperson Ramchandra Panda urged the Government to immediately fulfill the demands and restore normalcy in academic programmes.
“While the Government has increased the superannuation age of the medical college teachers, why the university teachers will be barred from this,” he questioned.