HYDERABAD: The government school teachers who will be engaged in election duty have urged the Election Commission to increase their polling duty allowance. This year 1.2 lakh teachers are being trained and deployed for the State Assembly elections. Teachers are being paid Rs 350 for polling day and an additional Rs 150 for lunch per day, which they say is meagre.
“Since 2014, we have been getting Rs 500. We even sent a representation to the EC a month ago demanding the amount be doubled but we haven’t heard anything yet,” said Sarotham Reddy, president, Telangana Progressive Recognised Teachers Union.
“The teachers engaged for polling duty need to stay for two days at a polling station,” he further said. He said that there are no kilometre limits on the allocation of duties for teachers. “The duties were posted in different constituencies and the election commission didn’t provide any accommodation and food for the teachers,” he said.
“The travelling allowance has been given on distance-basis, ie, Rs 30 upto 100 km distance and Rs 15 upto 50 km.” He alleged that the woman teachers who are deployed in election duty in rural and agency areas in government schools don’t even have decent bathrooms for women.
According to sources, the Election Commission officials have referred the representation to the State financial department to take a decision and were waiting for a reply.