West Bengal: Cops remove fasting TET protesters in midnight operation

KOLKATA: A little after midnight on Friday, Bidhannagar police removed protesting teaching job aspirants from Karunamoyee, close to 90 hours after they began their indefinite fast at the site demanding recruitment for all those who had cleared the 2014 Teacher Eligibility Test (TET). Scores of protesters were bodily lifted and put on buses and taken to the New Town police station. A few who had fallen ill were shifted to hospitals.
The police operation came after the Calcutta High Court on Thursday asked the Bidhannagar police commissioner to enforce Section 144 of the CrPC near the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) Karunamoyee office till November 4, when a regular HC bench will hear the matter. The order, announced on October 9, will be imposed in the stretch between Karunamoyee and Sector V.
The board had moved the court on Wednesday seeking its intervention, saying the protest by teaching job aspirants at its Karunamoyee office was hampering the board's day-to-day activities.
Karunamoyee witnessed two separate agitations on Thursday on the question of whether those who cleared TET 2014 or TET 2017 should be recruited first. While 2014 candidates have been protesting since October 17, demanding the board recruit all those who qualified, TET 2017 candidates started th-eir agitation on Thursday, against the demands of the 2014 group.
"The recruitment notice was issued in 2017. We wrote the exams in 2021 after completing the training while 2014 candidates have appeared for interview twice," said Bamapada Sen, one of the TET 2017 agitators. Achinta Samanta, of the TET 2014 group, said, "We have been fighting for the past eight years."
CM Mamata Banerjee did not comment on the protests. "Whatever has to be said will be said by Bratya (Basu)," the CM said, "I will always support protests on reasonable demands. The matter is in court and we have been implementing the court orders."
Appealing to protesters to call off the strike, Basu on Wednesday said, "There are people who want the impasse to continue. Is it possible that everyone who appeared for a test gets recruited?"
The recruitment portal is scheduled to open for the registration from Friday, prompting the board officials to urge the candidates to call-off the agitations. WBBPE president Goutam Paul on Thursday told reporters that the board would stick to its procedure. "There will be no discrimination between candidates as academic score is prepared on the basis of seven parameters. There is also no question of anyone being deprived due to their year of passing. So, we are requesting them to take part in the interview process and call off the agitations."
In a late night development, the board issued a tender seeking private security along with implementation of multiple security related measures at its office during the forthcoming TET examinations in December.