Five teachers engaged on contract allegedly consumed poison outside the Bikash Bhawan, the headquarters of West Bengal Education Department, on Tuesday.
The primary teachers, all of them women, were rushed to hospital. The condition of two of them are said to be critical.
The teachers affiliated to the “Sikshak Oikyo Manch”, had been seeking regularisation of service for the past few years. They also alleged that they were being transferred to remote areas of north Bengal after they participated in protests.
Local television channels said four of the women drank some liquid from a bottle, but the police intervened and stopped the fifth from drinking it. The women were being taken into police custody when they resorted to the drastic step.
The development triggered a political war of words between the ruling Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party.
Before the elections, a group belonging to the Manch crossed a canal next to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s residence in Kalighat, evading the security. A few teachers tried to scale the gates of West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
West Bengal School Education department has various category of teachers. Apart from regular teachers, there are contractual teachers, para teachers, part time teachers, Shiksha Mitra and Shiksha Bandu.
Kolkata Suicide Prevention Helpline Numbers 033-24637401 and 033-24637432
