Kolkata, July 28 The joint forum of job-losing teaching, non-teaching staff in state run schools and state government employees deprived of their dearness allowance at par with Central government employees, on Monday afternoon, called off their march to state secretariat of Nabanna following a sit-in demonstration for around two hours after being stopped by the police midway.
The protesters claimed that due to inclement weather and high-handedness of the police, they had to call off Monday’s march and also announced that they would soon chalk out plans for their future course of action.
Convenor of the Joint Forum of State Government Employees, Bhaskar Ghosh, said that several organisations showed interest in joining in their protests.
“We will sit with them and plan our future course of action. Due to inclement weather, we are withdrawing our protest today. The police also made all possible arrangements to stop us. There was also a court order that we could not defy. Therefore, we could not proceed with the march further,” he said
The joint platform of deprived and jobless teachers and the state government employees had given a call for a march to Nabanna, demanding reinstatement of “untainted” school teachers and staff, recruitment for primary teachers, and a hike in dearness allowance.
The Calcutta High Court, however, banned gathering for the march while hearing an appeal of a business organisation.
Following the court's directive, the Howrah City Police have not given any permission for this march to Nabanna Abhiyan. Despite this, the organisations were determined to take to the streets to press for their demands.
The Howrah City Police, since early Monday morning, had turned the West Bengal Secretariat of Nabanna, located at Mandirtala in the same district, into a virtual fortress over the proposed march.
Heavy iron barricades were installed at three main locations in Howrah city to prevent protesters from defying court orders and taking out processions.
Arrangements were also made to block various important points leading to the state secretariat.
After being stopped by the police, the protesters squatted on the road near Ramkrishna Ghat in Howrah, asserting that they would not leave until Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee addressed their demands.
However, soon it started raining heavily over the area where the protestors had staged a sit-in. As they failed to make any progress with the march, they decided to call it off.
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