Without getting salary for about a year, the lecturers and employees in the block grant 662 colleges have been living quite miserably. While a few families are not being able to run their kitchens, there are still a few who fail to afford their medical expenses. Ironically, this is happening for a highly educated mass meant to look after the higher education of millions of students, when the Government has not been all that miserly in rolling out schemes for the marginalized sections, including the poor, the uneducated, farmers, daily wagers and the like.
While the Government has fixed a very low salary of a little over Rs 5,000 per month for the lecturers and has been blowing hot and cold over either increasing their block grant or converting it to Grant-In-Aid (GIA), the officials in the DPI have been no less harsh on them. Without getting their per cent, they are allegedly not releasing the allotted sum for their salary.
Sources said the staff members of these colleges which had been given block grant after 15-20 years of their services are living a wretched life.
While low payment in the time of inflation has been whipping them up, not getting the paltry payment and being forced to leave a part to the well-paid officials authorised to release their salary have proved to be the most painful. About 15,000 employees in the colleges are being exploited year after year, while the Government has been a mute spectator to their plight so far.
The State Human Rights Commission should take note of the painful living of the educated people who have been made victim of sheer Government negligence and deprivation for long years, demanded a few concerned citizens here.