Nagpur: The teaching/non-teaching staff union of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has appealed to the zilla parishad administration for revoking suspension of those staffers who don’t have serious allegations against them.
The outfit’s general secretary Sharad Bhandarkar said there are about half a dozen teachers who are under suspension even though cases against them are not related to their primary job.
Bhandarkar, said, “One of the teachers has been suspended because of allegations that water served during a sports meet was not of a certain quality. We have no problem with the inquiry, but do not keep him under suspension with half pay because of that. Serving water is not part of a teacher’s job so let us not persecute them for alleged negligence of something that is not in their job profile.”
Some other suspensions were attributed to ‘political’ rivalry by Bhandarkar. “At the village and tehsil level, where basically our
ZP schools operate, there is a lot of political interference. These dynamics then spill over to government institutes and the staff working there. I know at least one teacher who is under suspension because he got stuck between the power struggle between a national party and a regional one,” said Bhandarkar.
When questioned whether or not MNS is trying to gain political mileage by raising this issue up, Bhandarkar said he too had a lot at stake. “I am also a ZP employee working in the education wing. So there is nothing political about this except that I am showing solidarity with my colleagues. And what we are demanding is not illegal or unprecedented. All we want is that a fair chance be given to our colleagues,” he said.
