Salary delay: Teachers protest outside DDU college

NEW DELHI:  A strike was called by the teaching and non-teaching staff of the Delhi University’s Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College against the alleged irregular payment of salaries on Thursday. The college is one of the 12 colleges of varsity that is funded by the Delhi government.

The delay of salary has always been a burning issue among the Delhi-government-funded colleges. “It’s been more than four weeks since they received their wages. In addition to this medical expenses, arrears, childcare expenses and pensions are also pending for months,” said one of the protesting teachers.

One of the hundreds of teachers who attended the protest outside the college was retired associate professor Pramesh Ratnekar, who is also suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Highlighting his medical condition, Ratnekar recently wrote an urgent plea to Deputy CM Manish Sisodia for releasing his full retirement benefits.

“I suffer from the dreaded Parkinson’s Disease - a progressive degenerative, neurological disorder that severely restricts the body’s capacity to move, not just the patient, but also friends, family and caregivers to confront the reality of what can best be described as a “living hell,” wrote Ratnekar in his plea.

Apart from the financial crisis, the teachers are also suffering from a moral crisis because of the salary delay, asserted one of the teachers. The staff association claimed that the release of funds had been irregularly released for the past three years in the third tenure of the Kejriwal government, which resulted in non-payment of dues to the retired staff.