Darjeeling Government College

Darjeeling, May 23: The students’ wing of the GNLF has called a 72-hour general strike in the hills starting from June 18.

The decision to strike was taken after higher education minister Sudarshan Roy Chowdhury refused to make any commitment on the appointment of a principal in Darjeeling Government College.

Roy Chowdhury, who was recently in Siliguri, said the Bengal government would fill at least 47 of the 100 vacant teaching posts in Darjeeling district in phases. He had not made any specific promise about the appointment of a principal at the hill college.

The minister’s alleged silence has not gone down well with the Gorkha National Students’ Front (GNSF), which had been demanding that apart from filling the “more than 40 teaching posts” in the college, the government should appoint a full-fledged principal.

Currently, the institution is run by an officer-in-charge.

“We are grateful to the minister for having promised to fill the vacancies. However, he has not redressed our primary demand, which is the appointment of the principal. His silence reflects the step-motherly treatment extended towards us. In protest, we have decided to the call a 72-hour general strike,” said Asok Chhetri, the spokesman for GNSF, which controls the Students’ Union Council at the institution.

Not only that, Roy Chowdhury’s claim that 21 posts are vacant is contradictory to the GNSF’s demand that 47 posts needed to be filled at the premier government institution in the hills. It is the only college in the area to offer masters degree in botany and zoology.

The students’ front said they would not tolerate the non-appointment of a principal for eight years. They claimed that an officer-in-charge does not enjoy the full powers of a principal.

The minister had admitted that appointing teachers to the college was a problem. “Since it is a government institution, recruitment is done through the public service commission. Candidates back out when they come to know that they are to be posted in Darjeeling. This time we have decided to be more specific. At the time of printing the advertisement itself, we will let it be known that the selection is being done for Darjeeling Government College,” Roy Chowdhury had said after a meeting with principals of 19 colleges in the district three days ago.

Early this month, the GNSF had organised a hunger strike over the same issue. It had alleged that the college has been neglected over the years by the state government, resulting in a decline in academic standards.