Hyderabad, September 26: The non-teaching staff of English and Foreign Languages University, who have been on strike for a week demanding immediate implementation of the Compulsory Promotion Scheme, have threatened to intensify their agitation and launch relay hunger strike on Monday.
Holding the vice-chancellor responsible for the delay in the implementation of the scheme, the 145-odd employees burnt him in effigy at the university crossroads today.
Accroding to J Narsing Rao, who has put in 25 years of service, their main demands include immediate implementation of the ‘10+10+10 scheme’, a meeting of the Department Promotion Committee and filling of vacant posts on ad hoc basis by giving promotion to eligible employees.
The ‘10+10+10 scheme’, which has been approved by the Sixth Pay Commission, guarantees compulsory promotion every ten years to employees. There are at least 65 non-teaching staff members, many of them with over 25 years of service, eligible for the benefit under the scheme.
The employees’ another grouse is that the Department Promotion Committee (DPC) has not met even once in the last 13 years despite a signed order by the then in-charge vice-chancellor Mohammad Miyan (who is currently vice-chancellor of Maulana Azad National Urdu University). The in-charge vice-chancellor has not even visited the university in the last two months since his appointment.
The secretarial staff continue to draw meagre salaries ranging between Rs 1,900 and Rs 9,300 (at the topmost level) and the technical staff between Rs 2,400 and Rs 9,300 (at the top level).
The Telangana Students Union has extended its support to the agitating employees who have already received support from the All India University Employees Association and other associations of a joint action committee.
“We have been patiently waiting for our legitimate demands to be accepted but cannot wait anymore,’’ said K. Krishnamurthy, who has worked for 27 years without a single promotion.
“They have been burdening a junior office assistant with the work of a senior for years together but without giving adequate and reasonable compensation or incentives. The university is being run with a strength of 145 regular staffers against a sanctioned strength of 400,’’ pointed out another employee, Lisy Kusuma.
The staff members are also against the appointment of fresh SC and ST candidates to fill vacant posts without considering the eligible SC and ST employees of the university for promotion.
–Agencies