More than 400 lecturers and administrators of Bharathidasan University staged a protest on the varsity premises in Tiruchi on Thursday against the approval of one month’s salary for visiting teachers working in its affiliated colleges.
In time, they called off their agitation after they were promised that they would take a decision after receiving money from the government.
BDU had paid the salaries of guest lecturers who were working in established colleges that were converted into government colleges in 2019, until September 2023. Guest lecturers and administrative staff of 10 colleges previously under BDU were affected by non-payment of salaries and had been protesting for the past few weeks.
As a temporary measure, the university has decided to release a month’s salary to guest students, but this was opposed by BDU workers’ unions who joined the protest on Thursday. A delegation of officials, including the Vice-Chancellor, the Registrar and the Finance Committee met the protesting university staff.
In a statement released later, the secretary of the BDU Staff Welfare Association M. Arunachalam said the agitation was called off based on the assurance that a decision would be taken only after receiving funds from the government.
Published – September 26, 2024 05:46 pm IST