Telangana government remains apathetic towards contract lecturers

The fate of junior lecturers who have been working at the government junior colleges on contract basis for the last 14 years hangs in balance, without the regularisation of service, a lack of perks or benefits other than the salary, and to add to that the non-payment of salaries for the last four months since December.

As they eagerly await the release of salary, they are hardly able to make both ends meet and some of them have even incurred debts.

“As many as eight of our colleagues have died of heart attack, hypertension and other diseases as they had no money to meet their expenses. Recently, Syed Pasha, junior lecturer at Tadwai Junior College collapsed due to cardiac arrest owing to financial problems,” said one of his colleagues S. Veeresham.

“We have no job security. If the salaries would have been paid on time we wouldn’t have been in debt. Payment of school and college fees of children has become an uphill task for us,” he laments.

There are 3,410 junior lecturers working on contract in government junior colleges across the State while 300 are in the undivided old district. After the G.O. No. 16 issued by the government to regularise the services was stayed by the High Court, they have been hurled into such a predicament, said Koppusetti Suresh, State secretary, contract junior lecturers’ association.

“We started our career in 2004 at a monthly salary of ₹5,000. Subsequently, it was made ₹18,000 and now was fixed at ₹37,100. We went on strike for 20 days and took out padayatra from Gajwel to Hyderabad last year. Coming to know of our problems the Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao himself had summoned us for talks,” he said.

“The Chief Minister agreed to our demands and promised to solve them, but to no avail till date. We are fighting the case engaging a lawyer on our own. We have no other benefits except one CL in a month. Maternity leave for women lecturers promised by Chief Minister has not been implemented,” added Suresh.

Over 80 % of the junior colleges are being run with contract lecturers despite the fact that the government has remained silent over their problems citing that the case was sub-judice, they said.