On the 24th day of the “fast unto death” programme by a section of retrenched 10,323 teachers, the health conditions of many teachers deteriorated and they were shifted to IGM Hospital.

On the 24th day of the "fast unto death" programme by a section of retrenched 10,323 teachers, the health conditions of many teachers deteriorated and they were shifted to IGM Hospital.

They started sit-in-demonstration from October 20 demanding their reinstatement in service and till Friday, dozens of teachers were hospitalized.

Altogether 10,323 of teachers, who lost jobs after the High Court of Tripura terminated their appointments as illegal in 2014 and termination of their ad-hoc jobs after Supreme Court verdict, the retrenched teachers are continuing their agitation hunger strike, protest rallies and march to secretariat and Raj Bhavan for past few years, but till date they were not rehabilitated or reinstatement in service.,

Speaking with media persons on the 24th day of their ‘fast unto death’ programme, some agitated retrenched teachers claimed that Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha, during a meeting with a delegation representing the retrenched teachers, had given assurance that a detailed discussion over the possibility of job restoration would be held after Lakshmi puja in the presence of heads of departments including Law secretary and Advocate General of the state, but till date no such measures have been taken for their rehabilitation.

They also alleged that before beginning the hunger strike programme, the retrenched teachers had duly informed all the departments of the state to cooperate with them by providing them some logistic support like toilet and drinking water facilities in their agitation venue at Orient Choumohani in Agartala. But, no such help had been given to them and even on the 23rd day of hunger strike, they were also not providing ambulances to shift their ailing teachers into hospital.

Speaking with media, retrenched teacher leader Arabinda Sharma said that with due regards they are still very much hopeful that Chief Minister Dr Manik Saha will call them and do something for their reinstatement of jobs. He said that their families are running a severe financial crisis after losing their jobs 32 months ago and they are continuing their fast unto death programme only with moral support of hundreds of teachers, who have lost their jobs. He said due to the autocratic decision of the Education department, so far, they have lost 145 teachers. He said that they are hopeless and still continuing their fast unto death programme and appealed to the Chief Minister to protect their lives.

Sharma said that they want the government to convene the meeting at the earliest, as promised by the Chief Minister and should give a green signal to withdraw their ‘fast unto death’ programme and reiterated that they will continue their agitation till a final solution is assured by the government.