Block Grant teachers fail to roar in Odisha CM’s turf

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Feb 18: 

Odisha Police today clamped down on the Block Grant teachers of the state while they were on their way to demonstrate against the State Government in Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s Assembly Constituency Hinjli.

While the bus routes to Hinjilicut were changed without prior notice to divert the incoming agitators, some of the teachers who managed to reach the town were detained by the police in preventive custody. Many others groups were detained before reaching Aska, Berhampur and Chhatrapur towns.

Few hundred of the teachers, however, managed to reach Aska by noon and blocked the road near Biju Patnaik square for about 90 minutes in retaliation.

There were few instances of local BJD workers getting into brawls with the teachers in Hinjilicut and reports of cops beating up agitating teachers in Aska. However, overall law and order situation was largely peaceful throughout the day and security had been beefed up across all towns in Ganjam.

Notably, the Odisha Block Grant Teachers’ Association had earlier announced that about 8000-10,000 teachers would conduct a demonstration and a rally in Hinjilicut protesting against the government apathy towards their demand of full grant-in-aid.

The association has been on the streets since months, barring a small period between September 27 and February 5, demanding full grant-in-aid. It has also announced that the Block Grant teachers would not cooperate with the government and Board of Secondary Education (BSE) during the upcoming High School Certificate (HSC) examination, if the government fails to accept their demand.