Drawing the attention of the State government to the pathetic condition of guest lecturers in the State, MLC Basavaraj S. Horatti has written to Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa urging him to release their pending remuneration.
In the letter to the Chief Minister, which has been released to the media, Mr. Horatti has pointed that over 13,000 guest lecturers serving in various government first grade colleges across the State had not received their remuneration for the work done for the last four months.
“These guest lecturers have been virtually thrown onto the streets as neither they have work nor have they received their salaries for the work done,” Mr. Horatti has said.
Mr. Horatti has said that these guest lecturers do not have any job security and would only receive honorarium for classes handled by them. “The guest lecturers receive remuneration based on the classes handled by them and because of the COVID-19 lockdown, holidays have been declared for colleges. What is even worse is that they have not received their remuneration making it difficult for them to run their families,” he has said.
Mr. Horatti has mentioned in the letter that as they had not received remuneration for the last four months, they were not in a position to even buy groceries for their families. Even grocery stores have stopped giving them credit. In this moment of crisis even handloans were not available to them making their lives further miserable, he has said.
While the government had extended necessary assistance to small traders, vendors and daily wage workers, it had failed to help guest lecturers whose situation was no different from daily wage workers, he has said.
“Those working in factories and serving government departments get their salaries even if they sit at home due to the lockdown. The State government should consider the plight of these guest lecturers and take steps to release their remuneration for the lockdown period,” he has said.
