MADURAI: Assigned to work under school headmasters in polling booths, the professors of Government Arts and Science College in Melur are painting a dull picture.
Speaking to TNIE, Associate Professor RK Srinivasan said the professors of the college have been assigned as Polling Officer 3, whose duty will be to receive vote slips from the people and make the EVMs ready for the voters.
"Heads of elementary school have been assigned as Polling Officer 1. The State Election Commission's move is degrading us," he said.
Another Assistant Professor, P Ponramu, said though he submitted a representation to the officer who is in charge of assigning the duty, he turned a blind eye to the request.
"A total of 80 teachers from Government Arts and Science College, Melur has assigned duty to work as Polling Officer 3 in the upcoming urban local body election. When approached, an officer working with the district administration refused to reassign the duty and told us to take Voluntary Retirement Scheme(VRS). We are ready to do the election work, but the returning officers should not degrade us," he said, adding assigning duty as Polling Officer 3 is just like asking tahsildar to work under VAO.
Speaking to TNIE, Government College Teachers Association(GCTA) Joint Secretary S Suresh requested the State Election Commission to look into the issue.
"I don't know how they are assigning the duty. There is a huge difference in basic salaries of us and the headmasters," he added.
Responding to this issue, the Collector's Personal Assistant, Satheesh, who is in charge of assigning polling duty said the duties were assigned randomly by using Integrated Financial and Human Resource Management System (IFHRMS) software.
"It is difficult to reassign the duty. However, I will ask presiding officers of each corporation zone to reassign the duties of these 80 teachers," he added.