Over 4,000 faculty members and employees of 12 educational institutions operated by the MANSAS Trust, who were reportedly not paid salaries in full for the past 16 months, are now facing police cases for allegedly violating COVID protocols during their agitation against the Endowments Department’s Executive Officer on July 17.
They were agitating against the Executive Officer for reportedly ordering banks to freeze transactions of the trust. The police, in its FIR, reportedly mentioned that the trust chairperson ‘provoked’ the employees to agitate against the Executive Officer.
However, the police did not mention P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju’s name directly in the FIR though he is the chairperson of the trust. Mr. Ashok’s confidants said that they had not received any communication from the police pertaining to the case filed against him. Professors, associate professors, assistant professors, and administrative staff were reportedly taken by surprise over the development.
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With the call given by the employees’ JAC, they staged a protest at their respective institutions in Vizianagaram. JAC convener M. Srikanth asked the government to withdraw the cases as they registered protest at the MANSAS office peacefully.
“How can employees live without salaries? The Executive Officer who directed banks to freeze accounts also should not draw the salary hereafter. The government might have misgivings over MANSAS land issues. But it is unfair to trouble the employees of the educational institutions,” he said.