BHUBANESWAR: The state government has decided to form a high-level committee to review the demands of teaching and non-teaching staff of aided and private educational institutions under the School and Mass Education and Higher Education departments.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said multiple associations of teachers and employees working in government, aided and block-grant (non-government aided) educational institutions under the School and Mass Education department and the Higher Education department have been raising various service-related demands before the government for quite some time and discussion have been held with them on several occasions.
The government has decided to set up a committee under the chairmanship of retired IAS officer Ashok Kumar Tripathy to examine various long-pending demands of teachers, professors and non-teaching staff working in different educational institutions. The committee is mandated to submit its report within six months.
Teachers of aided colleges have been demanding equal pay and benefits as their government counterparts, specifically the UGC pay scale with a higher grade pay and formal recognition as state government employees. Their other demands include restoration of the old pension scheme and a higher retirement age to 62.
Hundreds of State Selection Board (SSB) lecturers serving in aided colleges across the state hit the street at Mahatma Gandhi Marg in the city in October demanding UGC pay parity, service recognition and dignity. Protesting under the banner of Odisha SSB Lecturers’ Association (OSLA), around 1,500 teachers alleged they were being paid at the PGT scale (Level 10) with a grade pay of Rs 4,600, instead of the UGC assistant professor scale at Level 10 and academic grade pay (AGP) of Rs 6,000.
Similarly, teachers of 488 non-government aided colleges are demanding better facilities under the grant-in-aid (GIA) system, including pension, promotion opportunities and implementation of the seventh pay commission salary. They are also demanding parity with other regular teachers, including promotion schemes and retirement benefits.
Bhubaneswar: Deputy chief minister KV Singh Deo informed the Assembly on Wednesday that electricity dues worth `6,956.93 crore were pending against industrial, commercial and domestic consumers in the state. The dy CM, who also holds the Energy portfolio, said that domestic consumers have highest pending dues of Rs 6,558 crore while industrial and commercial consumers have outstanding of Rs 393.93 crore. He said several steps are being taken by the distribution companies to recover the pending dues.
Monthly domestic electricity bills are being collected through door-to-door visits and special camps are also being organised to collect the pending dues. Besides, if a customer does not pay the bill on time, the power supply is disconnected after notices are issued, he added.
Bhubaneswar: The state government has proposed to construct 58 cold storages at the sub-division level with an investment of `252 crore. Law minister Prithiviraj Harichandan informed the Assembly in this regard while replying to a question from Ramachandra Kadam (Congress) on behalf of dy CM KV Singh Deo.
The minister said that Odisha now has 133 cold storages of which 35 are operational. Thirty three are privately operated while two are run by the government. The minister said 26 cold storages were set up during the last 10 years of which 22 are functional and four have become defunct.