Ahead of parliamentary and assembly polls to be held next year, the issue of acquisition of teaching and non-teaching staff of 97 government aided non-government colleges in government colleges by the state Haryana government continues to remain in discussion. The Teaching and Non-teaching association are on toes to meet their much awaited demand but scenario remains unchanged so far. Taking on the state government, The staff of the aided colleges states that this issue was in the BJP’s election manifesto of 2014, but in the calculation of political profit and loss, even after 9 years, this government has not been able to fulfill its promise which is a matter of serious concern. However, the government has successfully completed the acquisition of staff at the school level despite that, acquisition of staff of the government aided non-government colleges is still pending.
Moolchand Sharma, state Higher Education Minister said that the matter of acquisition of staff of aided colleges is under consideration and the government is working towards framing the policy keeping the interests of all stakeholders pertaining to the matter.
The General Secretary of the Teachers’ Association, Dr Sudeep Gahlawat said that several states including Andhra Pradesh, neighbouring Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh already have acquised the staff of aided colleges in government colleges. Even in Haryana, the staff of aided schools have also been merged in government schools. Further he said that in wake of this, the College Teachers Association and Non-Teaching Union request the government to adjust the staff of aided colleges in government colleges by following school staff adjustment policy. ‘’ Besides acquisition of staff of the government aided non-government colleges is most likely to add to the state exchequer’’ he added.
In continuation to aforesaid, it is pertinent to mention that as elections draw near, the teachers association and the staff of aided colleges are also moving forward in a very strategic manner pertaining to the fulfillment of their demands. The officials and staff of the associations are continuously meeting the ruling BJP and JJP leaders in a bid to build pressure on the government. Recently, the officials of the association also met Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala, Home Minister Anil Vij, Minister of State Kamlesh Dhanda. Among the MLAs, the staff met, are Mohan Lal Badoli Pramod Vij, Subhash Sudha, Harvinder Kalyan, Vinod Bhayana, Duda Ram, Aseem Goyal, Randhir Golan, Leela Ram Gurjar, Ishwar Singh, Ramkaran Kala and Sombir Sangwan. Apart from these, the teachers also met the members of parliament including Ramesh Kaushik, Dharambir Singh and Sunita Duggal.
It is worth mentioning that the college staff have problems and objections regarding delay in salary, non- implementation of seventh pay scale and many more issues. Earlier, ex-gratia was given to the staff working in aided colleges, but due to non-implementation of the new ex-gratia policy, the stall continues to struggle on many fronts. Along with this, the staff working in these colleges are deprived of benefits like medical facility, retirement gratuity, LTC, no change in service and leave rule etc.