Mail News Service
Jamshedpur, April 20: The Jharkhand Primary Teachers Association (JPTA) has raised strong objections over the suspension of salaries of 700 teachers in the East Singhbhum district. A delegation, led by District President Arun Kumar Singh, met the District Education Superintendent to voice concerns over the issue.
According to the association, the Finance Department’s directive does not mention any provision for stopping or deducting salaries. On the contrary, it affirms that teachers’ salaries are to be released as estimated. Despite this, salaries across 11 blocks in the district had been withheld without valid justification, the delegation claimed.
The District Education Superintendent had already directed the Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO) to release the payments, yet the DDO has allegedly kept the salaries pending. The stated reason was the non-submission of teachers’ service books, which the association contested.
The Association argued that if the DDO was the custodian of the service books, then ensuring their availability and security also came under his responsibility. The association questioned whether the absence of a service book was a legitimate reason to deny March month’s salary to such a large number of teachers.
There was growing resentment among teachers, many of whom relied solely on their monthly salaries. The March salary was particularly crucial due to income tax filings and related year-end formalities.
The association issued a warning that if salaries were not processed by Monday, teachers would stage a protest at their respective block offices on the call of the Jharkhand Primary Teachers Association. If the issue remained unresolved, a district-level dharna would be organized on Tuesday at the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Jamshedpur.
The delegation included prominent members such as Rajendra Kumar Karna (Jamshedpur President), Tipru Tiu, Ramakant Shukla, Rudra Kumar Sheet, Krishna Mohan Thakur, Uttam Singh, Nirmal Kumar, and Archana Kumari, among others.
