Contractual lecturers protest govt ‘indifference’, get batons

Nishwan Rasool:

Dozens of contractual lecturers of different degree colleges in the Kashmir valley received injuries as police resorted to baton charge on them while they were protesting against the government indifference towards their demands at press enclave here.

The lecturers were holding a protest demonstration demanding increased salary and regularisation of services.

“We were trying to hold a peaceful demonstration for acceptance of our demands but police resorted to stern baton charge,” Ameen, a contractual lecturer said.



He further added, “We hadn’t done anything wrong. We are only raising voice for our rights, but our voices are always being suppressed with force.”

The lecturers, having Masters degrees and holding Ph.D are paid ‘not more than Rs 8000 per month, while a regular 4th class employee’ earns up to Rs 15000 per month in the same degree college, he alleged.

“Is this justified in a democratic state?” he asked.

Chanting vociferous slogans against the government 'mismanagement', the teachers were demanding a ‘smooth and transparent process of promotion’ when they were baton charged.

“Even woman lecturers weren’t spared and were brutally thrashed and manhandled by the police,” said another lecturer who wished to remain anonymous.




“When political magnates take out rallies and disrupt traffic for 3 hours, the state machinery does nothing, but when it is about teachers or any other sector we are met with force,” he added.

In colleges in the summer capital here, an estimated 80 per cent of the class work is affected due to the strike, given the workload shared by the contractual staff.

Around 650 contractual lecturers have been on indefinite strike since Monday. They are demanding revocation of the nomenclature, terming them academic arrangement lecturers and teaching assistants instead of contractual lecturers; monthly stipends equivalent to the basic salary of the post on which they are engaged; and end to new norm of six classes per day.

When contacted, the president college contractual teachers association (CCTA), Fayaz Ahmad, said the strike was being observed with commitment. He hinted that there was no possibility of calling off the strike soon.




“There has been no response from the government. Therefore, the strike will continue,” he said.

Asked about the government response, he said: “So far we have not received any invitation for negotiations.”

'Opertaion Blue Tossed' ,Trouble for Politicians and Babus

Nishwan Rasool:-

Joint Consultative Committee (JCC), an amalgam of government employee unions, here, ‘has threatened to launch a campaign aimed to uncover the massive bungling by bureaucrats and politicians by disclosing their undisclosed assets’.

Termed as ‘Operation Blue’, Qayoom Wani, Employees Joint Action Committee (Q) told Kashmir Dispatch, “We have the monetary information of all the politicians and the bureaucrats of our so called democratic state, and if our demands would not be fulfilled within a given deadline we would divert all the information to media and central government.”


Wani said they would go ahead ‘with the unraveling of the illegal assets of the politicians and bureaucrats’ if the government failed to meet their demands by August 6.

Thousands of employees on Monday on the call of JCC had gathered at Exhibition crossing in the heart of the city and started marching towards the nearby Civil Secretariat in the afternoon.

The JCC had announced “Secretariat Gherao” and threatened to intensify the agitation if the demands of the employees were not met immediately.

Police used baton and water-canons against the protesting employees. Many among them were detained also.

Stating that yesterday’s act as “brutal and undemocratic”, Khursheed Alam member JCC said, “The state has always used its forces against the poor and destitute employee who are pushing for their genuine demands.”



Both the employee leaders have now asked their members from the three divisions of the state not to attend offices on August 5 and hold sit-in protests outside their offices on August 6.

After prolonged agitation till May last year, the employees had called off their strike after the assurance by the government and cabinet sub-committee that their demands would be fulfilled in due course of time.

The demands included release of arrears in cash in favour of the retiree employees, enhancement of retirement age from 58 to 60, regularization of about 50000 ad hoc and other temporary employees, and redressal of pay anomalies in different cadres.



Both the leaders have demanded chief minister, Omar Abdullah to immediately address the employees’ demands.

Child unsuccessfully operated thrice in 30 days at SMHS

Nishwan Rasool:

In a case of alleged negligence, a three-year-old child was operated thrice after repeated failed surgeries by different doctors at the Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS), hospital here. Azhar Jan, 3, daughter of Fayaz Ahmad of Handwara was operated for appendix by a doctor at the SMHS hospital here on March 14, this year, her father Fayaz Ahmad said.

After surgery, the girl child was kept in the observation ward for the next ten days. However, the condition of the child deteriorated.



The doctors at the hospital told the family that the baby has to be operated once again.

On March 24, Azhar Jan was operated again. The surgery was performed by another doctor.

“The doctor told me that the operation was successful. He said my daughter needs to remain under observation for two days, before she could be taken home,” Ahmad said.

However, he said his happiness to see her daughter recuperating did not last long.

Hours after the surgery, Ahmad said, blood and septic started oozing out of her wounds.

The alleged failed surgery, Fayaz said, shattered the family.

He said the head of the department on March 30 visited the ward where his daughter was recuperating.

Ahmad said asked him to take an undertaking as the doctors decided to go for another surgery.

“The third surgery failed as well. More than the much needed medicare, my daughter was made a scapegoat. The doctors experimented with her,” he alleged.

The doctors, he said, did not even stop after the third surgery. He said he was asked by the doctors that his daughter has to go another surgery on July 5.

“I’ve just lost faith in the doctors. They won’t rest till my daughter is dead,” he said.

Ahmad said that he sold his land to meet the expenses for the treatment of his daughter.

However, he said not only economic loss, but the family has undergone psychological trauma due to the alleged negligence of the doctors.