Assam: Police thwart mass suicide attempt by teachers

26 July 2018:

The police on Thursday thwarted the mass suicide attempt by 1,530 teachers belonging to the All Assam Salary Deprived Assistant Teachers’ Association (AASDATA) in Sivasagar.

As hundreds of them were marching to the Sivasagar “pukhuri” (pond) to end their lives by jumping into it, the police erected barricades at several places to prevent their movement.

After a brief scuffle and exchange of words between both sides, the situation normalised when some representatives of the teachers were called in by the district authorities for a meeting to discuss the issue. The teachers, however, made it amply clear that they want a written assurance from the state government on the payment of pending salaries and regularisation of pay.

“Some of our representatives are holding a meeting with senior officials of the administration. But let it be known that we want a solution to the issue by today itself,” a teacher said. He wondered as to how they their appointments could suddenly turn illegal when they had served for years and their services were utilised by the government in the updation of National Register of Citizens (NRC), conduct of elections and preparation of census.

Speaking to InsideNe, AASDATA secretary Basanta Neog said, “We are left with no option as the government has not responded to us. We waited in Guwahati till 9 pm of Wednesday to get some results from the government. I came out along with my family members to end our lives as decided earlier. Nobody wants to die but our condition is such that we don’t have any wish to live. The government took no interest to solve our problems. We are dying even while we are alive”.