Tripura teachers continue sit-in amid winter chill

Agartala, Jan 5 : Despite cold weather, the indefinite sit-in protest by thousands of Tripura government school teachers, who had lost their jobs following court verdicts, continued for the 30th day on Tuesday even as the BJP-led state government is yet to hold any talk with them during the ongoing stir.
The agitating teachers had rejected the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government’s offer to apply for the vacant posts of different departments afresh for which the state government recently issued notifications.
Accompanied by their children and family elders, members of the Joint Movement Committee (JMC), which is spearheading the agitations, continued their sit-in demonstrations and vowed to continue their agitation until the government reinstated their jobs.
Meanwhile, a five-member delegation of the opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist led by former Chief Minister Manik Sarkar met Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb and requested him to resolve the issue at the earliest even as the BJP and Left leaders continued to attack each other over the issue.
Both the Chief Minister and state Education and Law Minister Ratan Lal Nath have urged the agitated teachers to compete for around 9,000 vacant posts in various departments, including the Education Department, for which the state government recently issued recruitment notifications.
Accusing the previous Left Front government, Nath said due to its mistakes and wrong decisions, 10,323 government teachers had lost their jobs due to the court orders.