Lathicharge on teachers in Bhopal; meeting with CM tomorrow

Bhopal, June 26 (UNI) A sit-in by Madhya Pradesh's shiksha guarantee schools' gurujis (contract teachers), who blocked the local Roshanpura crossing in support of demands including regularisation, better payscale and designation, ended this evening following an assurance that a discussion would be facilitated with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

In the afternoon, police lobbed tear gas shells and lathicharged to disperse stone-pelting demonstrators advancing towards the Chief Minister's Residence. More than 40 people, including 21 police personnel, were injured.

''An assurance was made that a meeting will take place tomorrow with Mr Chouhan. If our demands are not met, the agitation will be relaunched in an intense form as it is a do-or-die struggle for us,'' said Madhya Pradesh State Shiksha Guarantee Guruji Sangh President Sandarbh Singh Baghel.

Slamming the lathicharge, the main opposition Congress supported the demands. ''Our party condemns the regime's brutal repressive stance. The gurujis, who spread knowledge in faraway rural regions, should receive proper salaries and the benefit of regularisation,'' said state unit General Secretary Manak Agrawal.

Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Jamuna Devi reached the lathicharge spot, condemned the police action and supported the demands.

Denying the lathicharge, a senior police officer said ''mild force'' was exercised during an attempt to lift the blockade at the bustling crossing.

Thousands of gurujis gathered at Tinshed area this morning in support of demands to regularise, on the lines of shiksha karmis (education workers), about 38,000 gurujis.

''The state government earlier promised that gurujis will be regularised. However, a recent Cabinet meeting restricted the regularisation to shiksha karmis and others. The hike in gurujis' honorarium will benefit only 4,000 of them. For more than a decade, gurujis have been playing a key role in spreading the light of knowledge,'' said Mr Baghel.

UNI