Job seekers lock school council office, ADM breaks lock

 

COOCH BEHAR, Sept. 28: Demanding employment in primary schools a large number of agitated members of All Bengal Primary Teachers' Trainee Association (ABPTTA) locked the office of District Primary School Council in Cooch Behar for an indefinite period today. They locked the main entrance of the DPSC office at about 11 a.m. following their earlier announced plan. The employees of the office even the DPSC chairman failed to enter due to the agitation. Police also appeared there but no untoward incident occurred.

 

ABPTTA president Mr Bhajan Barman, said, they intimated the DPSC chairman yesterday about their agitation. He said, the ABPTTA is demanding for a long dissolving of cases related to Primary Teachers' Training Institutes (PTTI) running in the High Court and engagement of trained candidates in the primary schools. They are also demanding arranging of examination of 2005-2006 academic session. But the authorities concerned paid no heed to the justified demands of about 75,000 unemployed youths. At last, finding no alternative they decided to halt the functioning of the DPSC office in Cooch Behar by locking it for an indefinite period, Mr Barman said.

 

When contacted, DPSC chairman Md Nuruddin Mian admitted that he failed to enter his office today. He conveyed the matter to the district magistrate and also to the school education minister Mr Partha Dey. The minister reportedly told him that the locking of the office was not a wise step for the agitators. The chairman said no decision was taken yet to break the lock to open the office. He admitted that the agitators have a cause to ventilate their despair. "We will think over the matter if the locks were there till Monday", the chairman said.

 

On the otherhand, Cooch Behar ADM (Development) Mr Pannalal Mahapatra broke the locks of the main entrance with police help this afternoon. He said, "The office of the District Project Officer of Sarva Shiksha Mission is on the upper floor of the DPSC office and so I broke the locks to make an entry for the DPO and other staff of SSM." It is a public office and no one has any right to stop functioning of it, the ADM (D) said. []