BIRATNAGAR, Aug 10: Contract lecturers have locked up the campus chief of Mahendra Morang Campus and five other employees inside the campus for the last two days.
The contract lecturers, who have not received their salaries for the last 11 months, have locked up Campus Chief Jeev Narayan Jha, Deputy Campus Chief Dr Uddhav Pokharel, Accounts Chief Purna Kumar Shrestha and lecturers Tara Yadav, Lalta Prasad Jaiswal and Tirtha Kumar Shrestha.[break]
The agitating lecturers have been staging a sit-in after a meeting on perks and allowances on Sunday ended inconclusively. They have provided food for the detainees but are adamant on not letting the officials free unless their outstanding salaries are paid.
“We asked for our salaries time and again. We have been forced to detain them as they turned a deaf ear to our demands,” argued Sita Ram Chaulagain, a contract lecturer
The detained campus chief, on the other hand, expressed helplessness in doing anything about payment to the contract lecturers. “We have written to the Tribhuvan University (TU) regarding the matter. TU will allot the amount in co-ordination with the Finance Ministry. We can do nothing,” Campus Chief Jha said.
Deputy Campus Chief Dr Pokharel claimed the campus does not have enough funds to pay them. “We cannot pay around four million rupees from our own resources,” Dr Pokharel argued. The rebel lecturers seemed to have the students on their side as well. “The campus cannot keep the lecturers waiting for a month. Why have they hired lecturers on contract if they don´t have money for their salary,” questioned Campus President of the Free Students´ Union Jairam Sundas.
Morang Police, however, is unaware of the detention of the six officials for two days. “We have not been informed about the incident” Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Revati Dhakal said.