Jobless teachers cane-charged again in Patiala, ‘200 detained’

Patiala: Four days after their meeting with the state education minister and secretary turned fruitless, jobless TET-ETT teachers were on Tuesday cane-charged once more during a protest at YPS Chowk. After hitting them thrice, police blamed them for starting the scuffle.
ETT-TET pass unemployed teacher union press secretary Deep Banarasi said: “Marching towards the CM’s r around 2pm, we had reached YPS Chowk when police cane-charged us, detained 200 of us, and released them far off the spot.After this, two of our protesters sat down on the Bhakhra canal over-bridge near Pasiana and the others joined them in a few minutes. Police used force once again to evict them. Another batch of 60 that reached the Patiala-Sangrur highway at 6.30pm received a similar treatment.”
The teacher union claimed injuries to more than 12 members in three cane charges and accused police of ripping the clothes of a woman protester. Confronted, Patiala deputy superintendent of police Yogesh Kumar said: “It was a mild lathi charge at YPS Chowk, only to scatter the protesters. We packed 150 of them in buses and released them far from the agitation spot.”
Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Sandeep Garg said: “The lathi charge was at YPS Chowk only and nowhere else. Four cops, including two women, were also injured in the scuffle.” The teachers want recruitment against the 2,364 advertised and 664 backlog posts of elementary teacher. They also want a recruitment notification for 10,000 posts and extension in the age limit from 37 to 42 years on the grounds that many had turned overage waiting for jobs.
Teacher union president Deepak Kamboj said: “We have been protesting for jobs since 2011, when the Akalis were in power. For seven months in 2016, we protested on the Badal road in Bathinda. The government declared 4,500 and then 2005 posts . This March, the Congress government advertised another 1,700 posts and added to the backlog. By now, 14,000 teachers have cleared TET, while Punjab has 15,000 vacancies.”
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Man still on tower
On March 21, two protestors (Surinder Singh of Gurdaspur and Harjeet Singh of Mansa) climbed a mobile-phone tower in Patiala. Harjit camd down after 70 days of protest when his mother’s health deteriorated, while Surinder Singh is still there on the top after 87 days. The TET and ETT pass unemployed teachers have been protesting in Sangrur district since January 4.