Teachers face khaki wrath

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, June 30

Scores of protesting members of the Patra Adhyapak Sangh, who were heading towards the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, were canecharged by the Chandigarh Police at Housing Board Chowk this afternoon.

At least six protesters were injured when the police resorted to a lathicharge after they tried to enter Chandigarh by breaking the barricades on the Panchkula-Chandigarh link road. The injured, including women, were taken to hospitals in Chandigarh and to the Government Hospital, Sector 6, Panchkula.

The teachers, who had cleared the Haryana Teachers Eligibility Test (HTET) during the previous Congress government and were selected as JBTs, are demanding appointment letters for the past over a year.

They had held a protest in Karnal on March 29 following which the Haryana Chief Minister had assured them that they would be given appointment letters. The teachers today organised a protest march from Sector 5, Panchkula, to Chandigarh but had to face water cannons at Housing Board Chowk. The police had to use a mild force to disperse the mob, a senior police officer said.

The UT police and the Panchkula police had taken preventive measures and had deployed a heavy police force at the inter-state border to restrict the protesters from entering Chandigarh. No police personnel was injured in the operation.

Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, Jasbir Singh, a spokesperson for the Patra Adhyapak Sangh, Haryana, said Rupesh Kumar, president of the Panchkula unit of the sangh, Jyoti Bhatia, a member from Panipat, Rajinder Sharma, state president of the sangh, Kishore from Gurgaon, Sachin Dahiya and some others received injuries during the lathicharge.

The government has been making false promises to 9,370 qualified teachers after their selection and has not giving them appointment letters. The protesting teachers have threatened that they would intensify their agitation in the coming days.