Height of unemployment: Wannabe Punjab teachers stay put atop tower

Saturday, 05/11/2016

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CHANDIGARH: The Sholay-style protest has lost its novelty, but at 100 feet atop a steel tower you will certainly get noticed. You may not get heard, though.

The wannabe teachers atop a mobile tower near the official residence of Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal in Chandigarh on Friday.

That’s precisely what happened to two jobless men — 29-year-old Rakesh Prashar and Deepak Kumar, aged 35 — when they climbed a telecom tower close to the official homes of the Punjab and Haryana chief ministers in Chandigarh, early on Thursday.

They want jobs, but the government hasn’t given any assurance yet. The duo perched on a maintenance platform, or a crow’s nest, close to the top of the 120foot tower in Sector 3, an upscale and high-security neighbourhood where Punjab Bhawan is located, refuses to budge until they get their appointment letters.

They braved a cold night as the mercury dropped to 12 degrees Celsius already and preparing to endure another, despite depleting rations, on a small enclosed four feet by three feet platform (barely enough for them to squat) at a height equivalent of a sevenstoreyed building. “We have run out of food and have only left with some biscuits and water,” Rakesh said over the cell phone on Friday.

The protesters apparently have power backup for their mobile phones to last five days.

Rakesh from Gurdaspur and Deepak of Fazilka have passed the elementary teacher training (ETT) and teacher eligibility test (TET), which make them eligible for appointment as government schoolteachers. They joined the Unemployed Teachers’ Union of Punjab after failing to secure jobs.

“We have had enough assurances from the Punjab government. This time, we wouldn’t budge unless we get our due. We will immolate ourselves if the government doesn’t listen,” Rakesh threatened. “We are educated and qualified to become teachers, but forced to work as labourers.” Below, with their necks craning up, a posse of policemen shook their heads. Rakesh refused to disclose how they managed to enter the heavilyguarded area. The trespass triggered safety concerns because the duo managed to dodge roundthe-clock security and managed to climb the tower undetected. Haryana chief minister ML Khattar’s home is about 300m from the site, while Punjab’s Parkash Singh Badal lives less than a kilometre away. Sources said the duo had stopped answering calls of the police, but were in constant touch with other union members who were monitoring the situation.

“The top priority now is the safety of the duo. We trying to convince them to come down,” said Chandigarh police chief Sukhchain Singh Gill.

On Friday afternoon, the two protesters sent a selfie to union members. Both claimed they are eating frugally to minimise the pressure to answer the call of nature. Union president Amarjeet Kamboj said, “We will wait for the Punjab government’s reaction in the next two days. If there is no positive response to our demands, five teams will hold similar protests in different parts of the state.”