BHUBANESWAR: Death of an employee of State Institute of Educational Technology (SIET) sparked off tension after angry staff of the State-run institute kept the body in front of the official residence of School and Mass Education Secretary Aparajita Sarangi, seeking justice, here on Friday evening.Jitendra Murmu, a Class IV employee, had met with an accident three weeks ago and was undergoing treatment at Capital Hospital. He died on Thursday. Murmu is one of the many employees who have not got their salaries for the last 20 months.SIET is going through a rough phase. The employees alleged that although the State Government had sanctioned Rs 2.1 cr towards the staff salary, Sarangi released just Rs 1.4 cr for a particular category of employees (government staff) while others suffered. According to Orissa Karmachari Sangram Samiti secretary general Upendra Pati, the secretary created a divide between the Government employees and those recruited later as employees of the SIET, which is an autonomous body.“While Murmu’s family suffered without salary for close to two years, there was no help from the Government after his accident. We had taken up the matter with Chief Secretary B K Patnaik too. No help came Murmu’s way, not even for his treatment, which is why he died,” Pati charged. The School and Mass Education department even defied court orders on release of the salary, he said.Such was the plight of Murmu’s family that the SIET members had to mobilise funds for transportation of his wife and two children to Mayurbhanj, where he belongs.SIET, the only audio-visual unit under the department for education at primary and secondary levels, has been languishing without care. Recently, the Assembly Speaker had directed revival of the institute.Demanding compensation for Murmu’s family and action against the errant authorities, the employees kept the body before Sarangi’s residence near Raj Mahal Square and agitated for about three hours. Police kept a close watch on the agitators.
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