If voted to power, irregularities in teachers' recruitment to be probed: Bengal BJP

An inquiry panel will be set upto probe alleged irregularities in the appointment of teachersin West Bengal if the BJP is voted to power in the upcomingassembly polls, a saffron party leader said.

BJP leader Shamik Bhhattacharya said that there wasnot an iota of transparency in the recruitment of teacherssince 2014, and the merit list released this week was noexception.

West Bengal Board of Primary Education on Mondayreleased the state-wide merit list for the appointment of15,284 primary teachers. The Board had earlier announcedvacancies for 16,500 posts.

''Irregularities have been institutionalised by theTrinamool Congress government in the process of appointingteachers, even those on contractual basis'', he alleged.

The state government, he said, should come out with acomplete merit list and not just roll numbers.

The saffron party leader also alleged thatpara-teachers in West Bengal are facing huge disparity insalaries as compared to their counterparts in other states.

''On this issue, we will stage a protest march fromCollege Street to Esplanade area in the city on February 19,''he added.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had recently announceda three per cent annual pay hike for para-teachers in thestate budget, but they said it was not enough.

The education department had increased the salary ofpara-teachers at the primary level from Rs 5,954 to Rs 10,000a month, and for those at the higher secondary level from Rs8,500 to Rs 13,000.

A section of para-teachers on Tuesday staged aprotest near the high-security zone of the chief minister'sresidence, stepping into a canal to press for a salary hike.

Contractual teachers have been holding a sit-in in themetropolis for more than 70 days, demanding immediate wagerevision.

With the assembly elections round the corner, it hassnowballed into a major political issue with the oppositionBJP and Left Front accusing the ruling Trinamool Congress ofturning a blind eye to the plea of the para-teachers.