Order posting teachers at liquor shops for monitoring canceled

The administration in Maharashtra's Akola district on Thursday canceled the decision to post-college teachers at liquor shops to ensure social distancing following protests by their union. After the government allowed reopening of liquor shops earlier this week, local administration posted nine teachers from Shri Gadge Maharaj College at liquor stores in Murtizapur town for monitoring of social distancing by buyers.

The decision did not go down well with the teachers' organization which took up the issue with the government. "We had been assigned for duty at liquor shops for monitoring and supervision of crowd and maintenance of social distancing, but now the order has been canceled," one of the college teachers told PTI.

Tehsildar Pradip Pawar told PTI that there was a shortage of staff as personnel of revenue, agriculture and other departments were already assigned other coronavirus- related duties. "However, we have canceled teachers' deployment at liquor shops after the orders from the district collector. The teachers will be given other work if needed," he said.