About two lakh teachers in the state, who are undergoing training for election duty, have demanded that the remuneration for their services should be increased.
Presently, teachers posted as presiding officers are given Rs850 while teachers posted as polling officers receive Rs625. The teachers undergo three-day training before the elections and provide more than 24 hours of service before, after and on the day of polling. It may be noted that the rates have not been revised for years.
“If the government believes that conducting elections is an extremely important task, they must provide respectable remuneration to people who conduct such a crucial event,” Sunil Nayak, district president of Chhattisgarh Teachers’ Association, told The Pioneer.
The association has demanded that the amount be raised, from Rs850 to Rs1,600 for presiding officers and from Rs625 to Rs1,200 for polling officers. Apart from presiding officers and polling officers, the government does not provide any remuneration to the officers posted on election duty on a reserved basis. The association has demanded a sum of Rs1,000 for those teachers.
The association has submitted a memorandum to the district election officer in this regard. There are over 50,000 teachers in Raipur district who have been assigned duty during the election.“It is very upsetting that even after toiling so much we are paid peanuts. The rates must be revised,” said Neelmani Tiwari, a teacher in Bilaspur district.
However, the association has no plans of going on a strike or boycotting the elections if the Government does not accede to their demands. “We can only request the government and hope that they listen to our pleas,” said Nayak.