Orissa govt regularises 52,000 Siksha Sahayaks

Bhubaneswar, Feb 12 (UNI) A day before the commencement of the Budget Session of the Orissa Assembly, the Cabinet today decided to regularise nearly 52,000 Siksha Sahayaks and retain the EGS voluntary teachers as ''Gana Sikhyak'' with enhanced pay scale.

Briefing newspersons after the Cabinet meeting, state Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy said all the 52,000 Siksha Sahayaks would be now regularised in phases and those who had completed six years of service would be made primary school teachers with effect from April one, to work under the Zilla Parishad.

''Siksha Sahayaks, who have worked for more than three years, would be paid a consolidated amount of Rs 3,500 per month while those serving for less than three years would be placed between Rs 2,000 and Rs 3,000 per month. The new salary would be effective from December 2007,'' he added.

The Chief Secretary said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had announced the package for the Siksha Sahayaks in the Assembly on November 28, 2007 and the Cabinet approved it today.

Mr Tripathy said the EGS volunteer teachers in the state would be now treated as ''Gana Sikhyak'' with the upgradation of the EGS schools to regular schools under the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan.

The Chief Secretary said trained EGS volunteer teachers would be paid a monthly salary of Rs 2,000 while the untrained Rs 1,700. The EGS teachers with matric qualification would be given three years time to acquire the plus two qualification.

The Cabinet also approved the enhanced block grant to 1,314 High Schools and 834 UP Schools for which the state government would bear the additional revenue burden of Rs 28.99 crore per annum.

It was also decided to have Tahasil office in 60 blocks this year while the left out blocks would have the Tahasil office next year.

Presently, about 169 block offices had no Tahasil office.

The Chief Secretary said the Cabinet also decided to handover the authority to the Pani Panchayat to collect water cess, maintain the Minor Irrigation Points (MIP) and Community Tanks in its area. The executive body of the Pani Panchayat will now have a representation of one-third women candidates, he added.

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