Despite Section 144 being imposed in the Capital, thousands of Shikshakarmis thronged Rawanbhata Ground on Sunday and stepped up their agitation to press their nine-point charter of demands, including ‘Samvilyan’.
The police and administration was mute spectator when the thousands of protesters raised slogans in support of their demand. Policemen deployed to disperse the protesters failed to disperse the huge gathering of agitators.
On the other hand Panchayat Minister Ajay Chandrakar denied that there was any deadlock between government and the teachers and he sent out a fresh invitation to protesters to find a breakthrough. The Minister reiterated that his government was ready to listen to their demands except that of their key demand ‘Samvilyan’.
However, demanding release of arrested leaders, Shikshakarmis refused to join in talks with the Chhattisgarh Minister Chandrakar.
Notable, around a dozen of senior leaders of ‘Shikshak Panchayat and Nagariya Nikay Sangh’, including State President Virendra Dubey, Kedar Jain, Vice President of the Sangh, Omprakash Baghel, Tarachand Jaiswal, Manoj Dey have been arrested by the police but some of the leaders like State Organisation Convener Sanjay Sharma are leading the movement.
They too feared of being arrested and are currently hidden at unknown places in capital from where they are instructing the protesters through social media how to build up pressure on the State Government.
In a statement, Sanjay has said the talks with the Panchayat Minister Ajay Chandrakar would be accepted only if their leaders are released.