RAU teachers go on mass casual leave

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">SAMASTIPUR: The academic activities at Rajendra Agriculture University were paralysed on Thursday as the teachers went on mass casual leave demanding early payment of arrears of the revised pay scale.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">The teachers were agitating against the non-release of the fund by the Indian Council of Agriculture Research, New Delhi and the state government for making payment of the same.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">Md Murtuza, the general secretary of Rajendra Agriculture University Teachers'' Association (RAUTA) said, on the one hand the ICAR had surrendered the unpaid money to the tune of about Rs 48 crores to the ministry of finance, government of India and on the other hand it is showing its inability to release the fund due to "non allocation of budget" on this head depriving the teachers of Bihar their rightful claim. The ICAR had already paid the arrears to all state agricultural universities of the country except Bihar and Orissa.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-family:="" arial="" font-size:="">Murtuza further said that they were agitating over the issue for the last one month and had even requested the Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar not to allow discrimination against the teachers of Bihar but if the teachers would not get the payment of arrears of revised pay scale, they would have left no option but to continue with their agitation in future.</span></div> </div>