Civic teachers skip classes - Strike by Darjeeling conservancy staff deferred to Thursday for Id

Darjeeling, Aug. 30/VIVEK CHHETRI: Around 800 students of two schools run by the civic body here idled their time away today as teachers took leave en mass in response to a call by the Darjeeling Municipality Employees’ Union.

All civic employees took a mass casual leave today along with the teachers to press for their demand to revert to the old system of paying property tax at the municipality office, instead of the bank. The union has called a strike in the conservancy department for three days from Thursday and in the water-works department for an indefinite period from September 5.

The strike in the conservancy department was to begin tomorrow, but was postponed for a day because of Id. The Darjeeling subdivisional officer has called a meeting with union leaders tomorrow to discuss the demand.

The 30-odd teachers of Municipal Girls’ High School and Municipal Boys’ High School came to the institutions today but they neither signed the attendance registers nor took a roll call of the students.

The Group D staff members were present at the schools. Although bells were rung, no classes were conducted. The teachers refused comment on their absence from classes and requested that the union leaders be contacted.

Alan Chhetri, the president of the union, said: “We have not received any response from the authorities regarding our demand so far. The students came to school today and if there is any untoward incident, the district authorities will be held responsible.”

All employees in the municipality office have been on a pen-down strike since August 4 to protest against the SDO’s decision to entrust the collection of property tax to the Union Bank of India. The SDO is the chairman of the board of administrators in charge of the civic administration in the absence of an elected body.

The union is planning to intensify the agitation by extending the strike to the conservancy department. “We will launch a strike in the water-works department also for an indefinite period from September 5 until our demand is met,” said Chhetri.

The strike by the conservancy staff is set to affect the disposal of garbage. Sources said about 40 metric tonnes of waste were generated in the 32 wards of the municipality a day. During the peak tourism season, the amount of garbage piled up in the town a day could reach even 60 metric tonnes.

The civic authorities said they had started the new system to keep pace with time and slowly, the citizens would be able to make all payments at the bank trough Internet. 

-TT