7th Pay Commission: 20,000 teachers take to the streets in Maharashtra to highlight pay plea

7th Pay Commission: It's not just government employees who are awaiting their minimum pay scale and fitment factor to be hiked. Today,  Maharashtra degree college teachers started an indefinite strike over various critical demands. About 20,000 teachers marched on the streets of Maharashtra, raising issues of filing up vacant posts. 

The Maharashtra Federation of University and College Teachers' Organisation (MFUCTO) held a meeting with School and Higher Education Minister Vinod Tawde, reported in PTI.

Tawde reportedly said, "The meeting was fruitful and we have agreed to share details of assurances with the members of the MFUCTO. We are hopeful that they will take the right decision."

The strike is expected to take place on Wednesday which is tomorrow, as the state government has assured the union of sharing minutes of the meeting.
MFUCTO president Dr Tapati Mukhopadhyay said, "Once we get the minutes of today's meeting, we will hold a detailed discussion with our members across the state, and then decide the future course of action."

Mukhopadhyay firmly reiterated that the minister assured them of pay as per the 7th Pay Commission along with the employees of the state government.

"However, we are not directly employed by the state government. The minister also said that the final decision regarding the same will be taken after holding talks with state finance ministry," Mukhopadhyay reportedly said. 

MFUCTO has also revealed that they will continue to strike across the state until their demand is met. 

Meanwhile, the degree college teachers are not alone in voicing disappointments over salaries linked to 7th Pay Commission. 

As many as 50 lakh central government employees have been waiting for some good news in their minimum pay scale and fitment factor. These employees are demanding a fitment factor of 3.68 times with minimum pay scale of Rs 26,000. This is after the Union Cabinet revised their minimum pay to Rs 18,000 from previous Rs 7,000 per month, along with fitment factor of 2.57 in June 2016 leading to a major hike in all central government employees salaries.

It has been revealed that, the government may hike minimum pay to Rs 21,000 and fitment factor to 3.00 times. However, the NDA government at Centre claimed that they are not really looking to hike minimum pay beyond the recommendations provided in the 7th Pay Commission report recommendations.