Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh Monday blamed the fiscal crisis "inherited" by his government from the previous SAD-BJP regime for his inability in resolving the problems of agitating teachers and other ad hoc employees in the state.
Amarinder said he had full sympathies with the teachers, but his hands were tied on account of the fiscal crisis "inherited by my government from the erstwhile SAD-BJP government."
He said he was looking into the problems of the agitating teachers and other ad hoc employees and his government was trying its best to resolve them.
He would try to resolve the problem by the winter session of the assembly, the chief minister said without elaborating.
Reiterating his government's earlier offer to ad hoc teachers, as decided by his Cabinet, the chief minister said, "They have the option to either continue working on ad-hoc basis for the time being, in view of the financial crunch faced by the state government, or join at a basic pay."
He said the Education Department had asked the agitating teachers to either continue on contractual basis or join at a basic pay of Rs 15,000 and work for three years before getting regularised.
Amarinder said "There are about 40,000 employees, including teachers, who have to be regularised."
The teachers, however, have refused to accept the government's offer of having their services regularised after taking a 35 per cent pay cut and have resorted to protests.
They have started a fast-unto-death in the chief minister's home constituency Patiala from Sunday.
They have also begun demanding revocation of the Cabinet decision, which has offered regularisation of their services in lieu of a pay cut.
As per the Cabinet decision, a total of 7,356 teachers under SSA, 1,194 under Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA), along with 220 for Model schools and 116 for Adarsh schools have to be regularised.
Meanwhile, on the issue of stubble burning, the chief minister said exact situation could be assessed only after harvesting.
He said while his sympathies were with the farmers, he was bound by law to take action against those burning paddy straw.
At the same time, Amarinder Singh said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had failed to respond to his repeated pleas for compensation to farmers against stubble burning.
The chief minister, meanwhile, announced his plans to visit Israel for four days from October 21 for discussions on issues of mutual interest, including innovative methods of farming, besides water conservation and irrigation, livestock development, horticulture and food processing.
He reiterated the need for the farmers to get out of the wheat-paddy cycle to ensure a better earnings for themselves.
Homeland security and training of police personnel are other areas in which Punjab is seeking cooperation with Israel, he added.
Asked why Punjab has not reduced VAT as some other states did after the Centre cut fuel prices by Rs 2.50 per litre, the chief minister said due to fluctuating oil prices in international market, his government would wait till October end before taking a decision on it.
Amarinder rued that all key sources of the state's income, except petrol and excise, were in the Union government's control.
"What is left with us... how can we run Punjab?," he asked.
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