IMPORTANT LETTERS
COMMON CAUSE has taken up the issue of open manholes/trenches, and has written the following letter to the concerned authorities.
HAZARDS OF OPEN MAN-HOLES/TRENCHES
17th July, 2006
"Every year there are prominent news-items in the media reporting mishaps - some even fatal - occurring due to open man-holes/trenches. These are presumably left open by the workers of MCD/DJB/PWD/NDMC after doing the assigned job e.g. road work, clearing of sewerage, drain etc. Some of these might be left uncovered by the workers of other agencies engaged in the work of laying of cables, pipes etc. or some could have been stolen. Even while work is in progress, no steps are taken to put a fencing and warning sign to caution the users. In any case, it is the responsibility of MCD/DJB/NDMC/PWD etc. to ensure that no man-hole/trench is left uncovered lest it should lead to a mishap. Despite strictures from courts and other competent authorities, there does not seem to be any improvement in ensuring that no man-hole/trench is left uncovered.
Being an organisation dedicated to public causes, we recently engaged a student of J.N.U. to carry out a survey within the area surrounding our office in Vasant Kunj. He has come up with the startling information that within a very limited radius, he found a number of uncovered man-holes/trenches. The details of some of these are given in the enclosed scanned photographs indicating specific location of each man-hole/trench.
He has also stated in his report that recently an office-goer rushed to catch a bus at Munirka bus stop, but fell into an open trench. He was rescued from the jaws of death in unconscious state and taken to AIIMS by those present there.
On Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, near Ber Sarai, it was observed that at a distance of every 100 feet, there is an open man-hole. On Munirka road, at one place there is open drain with a hole enough to engulf at least three persons. It remains un-noticed by the authorities for the last one year. These instances are only indicative of the state of affairs and not exhaustive.
COMMON CAUSE does not have the resources to carry out extensive surveys in all the zones in Delhi. It may be difficult even to conduct such a survey covering one entire zone, say South-West due to paucity of resources and man-power.
In view of the position explained above, we request you to kindly intimate us the steps being taken / intended to be taken to ensure that no man-hole / trench is left uncovered. Why each Junior Engineer cannot be made personally answerable, and penalised for any dereliction of duty in this regard? He may submit a weekly/fortnightly report on open man-holes/trenches in the area. His work must be supervised by the Assistant Engineer and other officers.
By this letter we wish to give notice that COMMON CAUSE shall investigate each accident caused by open man-holes/trenches and lodge an FIR with the Police for criminal prosecution of all those concerned. We shall be expecting a reply within a period of 14 days."
(P.K. DAVE)
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COMMON CAUSE has also taken up the functioning of Private Schools and has written following letter to the Deptt. of Education, Govt. of N.C.T. of Delhi.
MALPRACTICES IN PAY-SCALES AND WORKING CONDITIONS OF TEACHERS IN
PRIVATE SCHOOLS
"The subject noted issue had come to our notice through some oral complaints received by us. On the basis of that a research/survey was conducted by our organization and certain alarming malpractices have come to limelight. We as a public spirited non-government organization would like to bring to your kind notice the facts and circumstances relating to this issue and seek your intervention in the matter for amelioration of the plight of teachers in private schools and for improvement in teaching standards in general.
There are quite a number of private schools, commonly referred to as public schools in Delhi. In these schools generally teachers are recruited under two categories viz. permanent & `contract based'. A recent NCERT survey report shows that there are 90,669 teachers engaged in the profession of teaching, which includes government teachers also. Out of them 3495 are `contract based' teachers which are higher in number in private schools. Teachers recruited on the permanent basis are entitled to receive the scale of pay and other allowances as prescribed by the Govt. The Delhi School Education Act,1973 states that the scales of pay and allowances , medical facilities, pension, gratuity, provident fund and other prescribed benefits of the employees of a recognized private school shall not be less than those of the employees of the corresponding status in schools run by the Govt. However, there are no prescribed terms and conditions with regard to the payment and other facilities for 'contract based' teachers. The managing body of a private school has absolute autonomy in selecting and recruiting `contract based' teachers and deciding their emoluments.
Since a large number of private school teachers are appointed on contract basis, they are under the mercy of school management, and in the absence of any monitoring mechanism by the Education Deptt. there is a great deal of exploitation. The public schools prefer appointing more `contract based' teachers so that they can hire them at minimal emoluments and fire them at any time they wish. Several schools pay their teachers a petty amount, even less than the minimum wages prescribed by the Govt. of NCT of Delhi for unskilled daily workers (i.e Rs. 123 per manday). It will be pertinent to mention here that if anybody is paid less than the prescribed wages they can be categorized as bonded labour. In the case of `contract based' teacher these norms are apparently not followed. Besides being denied basic facilities, such teachers are also not in a position to unite against the exploitation because it may eventually lead to their dismissal from the school. There is also a general complaint that the `contract based' teachers are paid less amounts while their signatures are secured for higher amounts.
In many cases unqualified candidates are employed just to minimize the expenditure. It certainly hampers the quality of teaching and affects the career of students.
In several cases teachers are given additional work (administrative work, preparing question papers, evaluation, etc) without extra payment. Contract based teachers are not paid for the period of holidays though at times they are assigned work during these days.
Salary to contract based teachers varies from school to school and person to person. In general, for primary school teachers it is Rs.800 to Rs.2000, for middle school teachers Rs.1200 to Rs.2500 and for higher secondary school teacher it is Rs.3000 to Rs.4000.
In certain cases, educationally well qualified teachers are paid lower emoluments than `less' qualified ones due to latters' closeness to the management.
Many private schools do not have even the infrastructure facilities that are prescribed in the Delhi School Education Act' 1973.
Our survey has shown that exploitation is more in the case of female teachers who have certain additional constraints e.g., in commuting, hours of work etc.
These are the basic problems of the of teachers in private schools in Delhi which have come to our notice. The silent majority of these teachers are exploited by managements of private schools in different ways. It certainly impedes the growth of the profession. There is an urgent need to assess the working condition of teachers in private schools and to usher in wide ranging improvements.
We request you to kindly intimate us whether such type of deficiencies have been brought to your notice earlier? If so, what action has been taken to redress the grievances of such teachers and make the working conditions for teachers in private schools more conducive for imparting quality education to children. Being the overall custodian of education in Delhi, the Deptt. of Education, Govt. of NCT of Delhi may consider introducing a monitoring system. Under this system the private schools may be asked to submit a periodical return in r/o ` contract based' teachers indicating their number, emoluments, period of employment and other relevant details. In case of any violation or complaint(s) they will be liable to be taken to the court of Law.
An early reply would be highly appreciated."
