Dumka: The non-teaching staff of Sido Kanhu Murmu University (SKMU), Dumka, continued their indefinite strike for the fifth consecutive day on Saturday. The strike, called for implementation of the seventh-pay scale among other benefits, has paralysed operations across the university headquarters and its campuses.
In their first interaction with the protesters since the strike began, SKMU registrar Rajeev Sinha and finance officer Vijay Kumar attributed the delay to the Human Resource Department's (HRD) alleged indifference.
The registrar said that on November 29, the university administration had requested permission from the governor-cum-chancellor and the HRD to provide seventh pay scale benefits to non-teaching staff.
"The SKMU administration has been proactive in submitting all relevant documents for pay fixation to the HRD, which keeps requesting the same information repeatedly," Sinha told TOI.
During Saturday's meeting with protesters, Sinha expressed the administration's willingness to implement the seventh payscale benefits (due since 2016) through internal resources. However, this arrangement requires formal approval from the governor-cum-chancellor.
"Given the legitimacy of the employees' demands, we sent a letter on Friday to the governor-cum-chancellor, seeking permission to utilise internal resources to pay the benefits until HRD approval. A separate communication has also been sent to the HRD," the registrar explained, reiterating the university's position.
The strike might cause delays in disbursement of salary and pension of teaching and retired employees. Additionally, academic activities across SKMU campuses have been severely impacted.
The strike highlights the growing tension between university staff and administration, while exposing the bureaucratic hurdles in addressing employee issues.