Agitated over persistent salary delay, the teachers of Delhi University’s (DU) 12 colleges staged a one-day hunger strike from within the confines of their houses, on Tuesday. These 12 colleges are completely funded by the Delhi government. The protesting teachers have alleged that despite facing the Covid-19 epidemic situation, thousands of teachers and helping staff in these colleges are not being regularly paid. However, to avoid the violation of lockdown rules clamped to counter the Covid-19 epidemic, the protesting teachers are sitting in their respective homes, instead of coming out on the street. DU’s 12 colleges that receive 100% funds from the Delhi government have been facing financial crisis since a long time and the prolonged problem is not being phased out which is causing great difficulties for thousands of teaching and non-teaching staff working in these colleges. Dr Pankaj Kumar Garg, an Academic Council member of DU, told The Daily Guardian, “We strongly condemn the criminal act of the Delhi Government and demand an urgent release of funds that are due.
The repeated stoppage of funds in 12 fullyfunded DU colleges and 16 partiallyfunded DU colleges is unacceptable for us.” The city government’s decision of fund stoppage is being said to have cropped out due to an ongoing tussle over the formation of Governing Body in all 12 DU colleges that are funded by it. A source, closely linked to the functioning of DU, confirmed that Delhi’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government is seeking a larger representation of its party affiliated man in the Governing Bodies (GBs) of 12 DU colleges but the DU’s administration is yet to showcase any positive gesture to its demand. Rajesh Jha on of the Executive Council (EC) Members of DU who is also participating in the hunger strike, told The Daily Guardian, “ My full solidarity is with the protesting teachers, this is insane to not pay salary to teachers and non-teaching staffs that too amid the epidemic situation.
The Teachers of these 12 colleges are forced to launch protest as they are facing fund crisis.” These 12 colleges include Indira Gandhi Institute of Physical Education and Sports Science, Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies, Shaheed Raj Guru College, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya College, Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar College, Acharya Narendra Dev College, Bhagini Nivedita College, Keshav Maha Vidyalaya, Maharaja Agrasen College, Aditi Mahavidyalaya, among others.
