Secondary school teachers yet to receive revised salaries

Statesman News Service

MALDA, 6 JAN: Teachers of government-aided secondary schools in the district are yet to receive arrears of the revised salary since September 2009 as the district treasury officials have refused to clear the bills submitted by the district inspector of schools claiming lack of required information.

The All Bengal Teachers’ Association Malda district leadership alleged that the delay was “intentional” and had threatened agitation. They had also served a deputation to the district magistrate in this regard. The district treasury officer-I, Mr Gobinda Basak, however, had asked the ABTA leadership to provide required information to clear the bills in a meeting yesterday.

The district treasury official had refused to pass the bills twice since September. The district treasury officer-I has again refused to clear the bills the DI of schools resubmitted freshly on 30 December. “I do not have any objection to clearing the bills if the authority provides required clarification. But, the bills do not have required information. I, however, have asked the ABTA leadership to provide some information required from the school authorities to clear the due arrears”, said Mr Basak.

The state government has allotted Rs11.39 crore for payment of the first installment of arrears (2008-09) to more than 6,500 secondary teachers, including madrassas, in the district. “The treasury officer is delaying the payment intentionally over petty issues,” alleged the ABTA Malda district secretary, Mr Shankar Sengupta.

On the contrary, a section of teachers have already withdrawn their arrears from the Central Cooperative Bank without the treasury's approval. The Central Cooperative Bank authority has reportedly approached the treasury department to clear the arrear bills for the teachers to adjust its accounts.

Acknowledging the matter, the treasury officer-I, Mr Gobinda Basak, said: “The Cooperative Bank has cleared the arrear payment of a section of the teachers based on the bills prepared by the DI office. However, other nationalized banks have not made the payment without the treasury's approval.”