Will boycott assembly poll duty if ‘harassment’ continues, warn teachers' unions

NAGPUR: Teacher unions have threatened to boycott poll duty in assembly elections due later this year because of alleged mismanagement of post-poll procedures.


The Shikshan Samanvay Samiti (SSS), a coordination platform of 16 teacher unions, has slammed district

authorities

for ‘mental and physical harassment’ of their members who had gone to deposit

EVMs

and other documents after polling was over in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections. SSS has also demanded increased compensation for the kin of two Umred

teachers

who died in a car accident while returning from poll duty late at night.

Ashok Gavhankar, member of SSS and general secretary of Vidarbha Junior College Teachers Association (VJUCTA) said, “After polling ended, our teachers had the responsibility of depositing the EVMs and other documents at the designated school near Deekshabhoomi ground. Those who reached there by 8.30pm should have technically been free in an hour, but were stuck till as late as 4am. District collectorate failed to put a proper system in place leading to problems among teachers who had been without food for hours.” He added as the number of teachers waiting in line to deposit the EVMs increased, so did the chaos. “People started jostling and then some machines also fell on the ground. It was a chaotic scene because deposit of materials was not being done in a timely manner,” said Gavhankar.

Other SSS members told TOI that there was confusion regarding submission of documents as well. A member said, “There were some documents that had to be submitted in a sealed envelope while others were to be given just like that. But on reaching there it was found that certain documents should not have been put inside the envelope. Then our teachers had to take them out, rearrange everything and then submit.”

Senior union leader and

MLC

(teachers constituency) Nago Ganar said the blame lies entirely with the district

administration

. “The working conditions for teachers deputed on polling booths were horrible and it is a fit case for violation of human rights. Female staff should not have been kept there past 8pm at the most, ideally it should 6pm, but here they were held up well past midnight. There were no facilities for clean toilets, adequate food nor drinking water,” said Ganar.

The death of two teachers from Umred district, who were on way back from poll duty, has also become a point of discontent. Ganar said, “They were given poll duty almost 100kms from their home, which is ridiculous. These teachers then got delayed in the post-poll submission process and were returning home to Hingna when around 5am they met with an accident. This happened because of the administration’s failure to put in place a proper system.”

Though SSS has submitted a letter with their demands to the district administration, they will be meeting the collector next week to discuss things in person.