Kolkata, July 8 (IANS) A section of the non-teaching staff in Group-C and Group-D categories in state-run schools of West Bengal, who have lost their jobs following a Supreme Court order in April this year, will be conducting a “march to the state secretariat” on Tuesday afternoon.

This section of the non-teaching staff, united under the banner of “Group-C & Group-D Adhikar Mancha (Group-C & Group-D Rights Forum)”, will conduct a rally to press a four-point demand from the state government in resolving the ongoing impasse.

The forum has calculated that of the total non-teaching jobs cancelled following the Supreme Court order in April this year, a total of 3,395 were “untainted” and hence should be reinstated, while the jobs of the identified “tainted” ones should be terminated immediately.

Their second demand is the immediate publication of certified copies of the “untainted” non-teaching staff by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC).

Their third demand is the immediate publication of all the optical mark recognition (OMR) recognition sheets used in the written examination for recruitment, so that it becomes clear who was “tainted”.

The fourth and final demand is that the state government should work out some alternatives for the time being but only for the “untainted” ones and excluding the “tainted” ones.

The untainted staff will start assembling in front of Howrah Maidan Metro station in Kolkata-adjacent Howrah district from 11.30 a.m. on Tuesday onwards and thereafter march toward the state secretariat, Nabanna located at Mandirtala, also in Howrah district.

Initially, they decided to conduct the rally on July 3. However, being denied police permission to conduct the rally on that day, they finalised Tuesday as the date for the protest programme.

“We had several rounds of meetings with WBSSC on the matter. However, the latter was unable to come out with any specific solution. So ultimately we were forced to give this protest call,” said a representative for the forum.

Meanwhile, security arrangements in and around Nabanna have been tightened over this protest march.

A three-tier security system has already been raised around the state secretariat. All the roads connecting to Nabanna have been blocked with barricades.

–IANS

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