Teachers defer 'universities bandh'

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, JUNE 28. The Andhra Pradesh Federation of University Teachers' Associations (APFUTA) has deferred the proposed ``universities bandh'' on June 29 after the Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu, responded positively to their demands at a meeting held at his residence on Thursday.

A statement from the Chief Minister's Office said that the main demands such as Career Advancement Scheme (CAS), revision of pensionary benefits, release of DA as well as balance arrears of UGC pay scales were discussed. The Chief Minister informed the teachers that the Government was actively considering release of DA arrears as well as pay scales arrears and the department would come up with a time-frame for making payments of the same.

With regard to CAS, the Government would shortly issue a clarification on the issue of date of promotion and notional seniority. It was also decided that a committee would go into the issues of pensionary benefits and gratuity and submit its report within a month. A nominee of APFUTA would be part of the committee.

The statement added that the Chief Minister advised the Higher Education Secretary and the Osmania University Vice- Chancellor to have a meeting with the Joint Action Committee to sort out the pending matters.

Mr. Naidu also advised the university authorities to work in a cordial atmosphere to achieve higher levels of excellence and also work for generating more internal resources through various activities, consultancies, research projects and designing suitable short-term courses so as to meet a portion of the increasing financial burden on the university.

In a separate statement, the APFUTA secretary- general, Dr. C. Vishnuvardhan Reddy, said that they had reached an agreement in the presence of the Chief Minister for release of UGC arrears within a month along with one DA instalment due to them. He said CAS would be fully implemented with effect from the date of eligibility of the lecturers in Osmania University. In view of the agreement, he asked the teachers to attend to their duties.

The Higher Education Minister, Mr. K. Ramachandra Rao, the Higher Education Secretary, Mr. Sudhir, the Finance Secretary, Mr. R.P. Wattal, the APSCHE Chairman, Prof. C. Subba Rao, and the OU Vice-Chancellor, Prof. D.C. Reddy, and representatives of APFUTA were present at the meeting.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : Congress tie-up with Left parties
Next     : Telengana issue leading to new political
           alignments?