Chief Minister Harish Rawat showed glimpse of the astute politician that he is known in the political circles recently while addressing a convention of teachers in Dehradun. In the speech, he admonished teachers for making unjustified demands in one instance and then followed it up with an assurance that the demands like inaccessible allowance would be looked into by the Government.
In an oblique reference seeking support for himself and his party in a roundabout manner, the Chief Minister even advised the teachers to be careful while choosing political options.
In convention of the Junior High School Shikshak Sangh (JHSSS), which has more than 11,000 members, the Chief Minister twisted the arm of ever demanding teachers that seeking inaccessible allowance is not justified as Uttarakhand was created on the assumption of a mountainous State.
In the same breath he sought to assuage the offended feelings that he is ready to look into all demands of teachers. Surat Singh Tomar who attended the convention as the General Secretary of JHSSS, told The Pioneer that the political qualities of CM were on full flow during the convention but the problem of teachers needs serious thought than mere verbosity.
He said that the demand of inaccessible allowance of teachers is perfectly justified and CM is being misguided by the officials. Tomar questioned that if this demand is unjustified then why the department has created six categories of schools on the basis of accessibility.
Explaining the problem of teachers he said that a teacher posted in city like Dehradun gets house rent which is 75 percent of basic pay but when
he/ she is transferred on promotion in mountainous area he actually ends up getting less salary as only 40 per cent house rent is given and in such a scenario the demand of inaccessible allowance is justified.
MS Bisht, who is an advocate by profession, said that the Government should take a strict stand on the unending demands of Government employees.
“It is really depressing that successive Chief Ministers of state have succumbed to the pressure of different employee unions at the cost of the people of Uttarakhand”, he lamented.