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BHUBANESWAR: Members, cutting across the party lines, on Monday expressed concern over the agitating teachers of block grant secondary schools and the lackadaisical attitude of the State Government in resolving their problems.As the Assembly resumed after the lunch break, senior BJD leader Damodar Rout drew attention of Speaker Pradip Amat to the demands of the teachers who have been on the road since August 1. Since the agitation has caused a lot of inconvenience to the students appearing for the supplementary examination of High School certificate, the Government must resolve the issue without any delay, he added.With the Finance Minister projecting a tax revenue earning of Rs. 12,000 crore for the current financial year, the teachers should be given their dues, Rout argued.The Government had introduced the block grant scheme to partly meet the salary of the teachers of the aided High Schools. The objective was to provide 60 per cent salary to teaching staff of the aided High Schools against their normal salary. After implementation of the sixth pay commission, the salary of these agitating teachers of 1,983 High schools is only 28 per cent of the revised salary. If the Government is unable to provide full grant to these schools, care should be taken to provide them at least 60 per cent of the revised pay scale, he said.Taking exception to some of the welfare measures of the Government, the former minister said financial provisions were being made for certain schemes even without any demand. He was referring to the special financial assistance of Rs. 5,000 to each pregnant woman.He was supported by leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh, senior Congress member Dambarudhar Ulaka, NCP leader Amar Prasad Satpathy and BJP Legislature Party leader KV Singhdeo.
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