BALANGIR/BHUBANESWAR : A government school teacher of Balangir, who reportedly hasn’t received salary for the last three months, sought leave to work as a labourer on Thursday.
Prabhudatta Sahoo, a teacher in Government Primary School at Bandhanbahal village in Puintala block of the district, applied for a one-day leave to work as a labourer and earn wages claiming that he has not received his salary for the last three months.
In his leave application to the headmaster of the school, the teacher said due to non-payment of salary, he is facing severe financial constraints and has no other option but to work as a daily labourer to support his family. His leave was reportedly granted by the headmaster.
While both the teacher and the headmaster of the school could not be contacted, district education officer Pradeep Nag said Sahoo’s salary is pending for two months and not three. Sahoo belongs to Odisha State Assistant Teachers cadre (ex-cadre). Salaries of such teachers were delayed for two months due to technical snags in digiGOV website which is used to process the ex-cadre teachers’ salaries.
“This problem is not limited to Sahoo alone. Teachers of ex-cadre throughout the state faced salary delays. We have already cleared the salary for December which they can draw from Friday onwards. The rest amount will be processed soon,” Nag added.