Suicide of Rumi Debbarma – one of the 10323 terminated teachers group – intensified the ongoing sit-in demo stir and in fact, agitating teachers came out of their protest site and hit street on Sunday. The teachers demanded that mortal remains of Rumi to be brought at the agitation spot – however, Police did not permit.
Rattled by the fast unfolding incidents, the agitating teachers under the banner of Joint Movement Committee on Sunday held a road blockade in the city bringing vehicular movements to a standstill. The agitating teachers argued that they were not allowed to pay final adieu to their dead colleague.
The teachers wanted to bring the mortal remains of Rumi Debbarma to the spot of agitation but they were reportedly not granted permission for doing so. Aggrieved by the move, the teachers sat on the road at Battala that used to connect the city’s southern part with the rest of the city area. Noticing the situation going out of control, police and TSR perosnneel had been deployed in the area with water cannons and riot control vans bringing to the spot.
The blockade lasted for around 2 hours 15 minutes as the protestors lifted the blockade after talks with the police personnel.
Speaking on the issue, Sub-divisional Police Officer Chiranjib Chakraborty said that the blockade lasted for around 2 hours and the agitators agreed to withdraw the blockade after several rounds of talks, persuasion and negotiation.
Finally, the agitating teachers did not bring the mortal remains of Rumi Debbarma. One of the agitating teachers said, “We have lost 81 people who once used to serve with us. The police department has not allowed us to pay final tribute to the mortal remains of Rumi Debbarma. Now, we demand that the body must be brought here and then we shall withdraw our agitation”.
Notably, a day after one of the 10,323 retrenched teachers Rumi Debbarma committed suicide, another 10,323 teacher died at Thalcherra area of Amarpur sub-division located under Gomati district due to health related issues. With this, death toll of 10323 teachers mounts to 81.
