Para teachers in West Bengal stage demonstration demanding same salaries as regular teachers 

Women members of an organisation of para teachers on Wednesday staged a demonstration outside the West Bengal legislative assembly, demanding parity of their salaries with that of regular teachers in schools, police said. A two-day assembly session is scheduled to begin on January 27. Over 50 members of 'Sikshak Oikyo Mukto Manch' demonstrated outside the assembly where the prohibitory orders were clamped, a senior officer said.

"We want equal pay for equal work with regular teachers and retirement benefits. We want to meet Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. This is a fight for our self-respect," Gita Biswas, one of the agitating teachers, told reporters. A team of women police personnel reached the assembly and removed them from there, the officer said.

"Over 50 para teachers have been removed from there. One fell sick during the operation. We will find out how they managed to climb a gate of the assembly. Police personnel were posted on the premises."We will find out whether there was any lapse in security," the officer said. A team of Rapid Action Force of the city police has been deployed there, he said. The state education department had increased the salary of para teachers at the primary level from Rs 5,954 to Rs 10,000 a month. The monthly salary of para teachers at the higher secondary level was raised from Rs 8,500 to Rs 13,000.

Asked about the incident, state minister Subrata Mukherjee said, "The assembly doesn't belong to any particular party. There are places to hold such agitations to air their grievances. In a parliamentary democracy, one can always demonstrate but not on the assembly premises.