New Delhi: Demanding their pending salaries, teachers at 12 government-funded Delhi University colleges threatened a “complete shutdown of the Delhi University” and vowed to hit the streets in protest, on Sunday.
According to the teachers from different colleges, they have not been paid their regular salaries since 2019 and said that nearly 1,200 teachers at these colleges were finding it difficult to make both ends meet.
The officials at the government-funded colleges, on the other hand, alleged that they have not been given grants for the fourth quarter. The grant was scheduled to be paid in November 2020, and due to which they were struggling to pay staff salaries since December.
“All funds have been released by the Delhi government as per the rules,” a Delhi government spokesperson was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
The 12 fully state-funded colleges of DU have been locking horns with the Delhi government since 2019 over the delay in the release of grants. The Delhi government had in 2020 alleged that a special audit sanctioned by them revealed financial irregularities in these colleges indicating a “big fraud” and “ghost appointments”.
“Our colleagues say they don’t even have the means to come to college or borrow money. Pension is also not being paid. We have no choice but to hit roads now [to protest] because it is about our survival,” executive member of staff association at Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, Sujit Kumar was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
“We have requested them for a strong and decisive action programme including the complete shutdown of Delhi University. Only then the authorities will take notice of our plight,” Kumar added.
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