BHUBANESWAR: More than 300 employees of 31 Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) under Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT) are on dharna for the fifth consecutive day on Saturday demanding regularisation of jobs.
The agitating employees alleged though they have been appealing the OUAT authorities to regularise their job for the last several years, their demands have fallen in deaf ears.
Of 33 KVKs functioning in 30 districts of the State, 31 are under administrative control of OUAT and the rest two are under National Rice Research Institute (NRRI) and Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (CIFA).
With a team of six scientists and other scientific staff, each KVK functions as a knowledge and resource centre. Though all employees working in KVKs prior to 2005 were regular, contractual recruitment started thereafter due to austerity measures of the State Government.
The sanctioned strength of a KVK is 16 headed by a senior scientist and six other scientists from different disciplines, three programme assistants and other staff. Even as KVK employees have been made regular in different State Agricultural Universities in the country and ICAR institutes, it is not so in Odisha.
The facilities like CAS, RACP, MACP and NPS announced by OUAT have also not been implemented yet. The employees have urged the university authorities to send a proposal to the State Government for regularisation of their jobs.