Hundreds of unemployed physical education teachers gathered at Chaura Maidan protesting for their long pending demand to fill 870 vacant posts
A minor scuffle was witnessed between protesting teachers and police personnel on Wednesday when the former tried to head towards the Himachal Pradesh Assembly to meet Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu over their long pending demand to fill 870 vacant posts of physical education teachers.
Hundreds of unemployed physical education teachers along with their family members gathered at Chaura Maidan today and raised slogans against the state government.
The Unemployed Physical Education Teachers’ Association had on Tuesday announced that it would gherao the Legislative Assembly on the second day of its protest over the non-fulfilment of their demands.
Barricades were installed to prevent the protesters from entering the Assembly premises. Irked by not being allowed to meet the CM, the protesters tried to break through the barricade but were stopped by the police.
Addressing the protestors, the Association’s state president Ramesh Rajpoot said that their repeated requests on the recruitment issue have been ignored.
“We have come to Shimla 14 times in the last seven years and have staged six peaceful protests in order to raise our demands and today when we are trying to meet the CM, barricades were installed to stop us,” he said.
“The reason behind the deterioration in the quality of education in the state is that the teachers are on the streets. In Sports, Himachal also has zero contribution and this is because physical education teachers are unemployed,” he said.
The protesters warned the state government that they intensify their movement by collectively burning their degrees if the state government does not start the process of filling up the vacant posts soon.
Deputy Commissioner, Shimla, Anupam Kashyap had said during a recent meeting that no protests will be allowed near the Legislative Assembly and they would only be permitted at Chaura Maidan which is nearby.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)
