State trying to find a solution as soon as possible, says minister

Kolkata: State Education minister Bratya Basu met the seven-member delegation of the SLST job seekers on Friday and said that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wants the issue to be “resolved quickly” and that they are trying to find a solution at the earliest.

However, Basu denied having given a deadline of February 1 to job seekers and said that the officers would try to find the solution keeping in mind the legality of the matter. However, he is hopeful that the matter will be resolved soon.

Minister along with the principal secretary Manish Jain, the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) president Ramanuj Ganguly and the School Service Commission (SSC) Chairman Siddhartha Majumdar conducted the meeting for the second time. The first meeting was conducted on December 11.

On the 1000th day of protest of the SLST candidates at Dharmatala, an MA-BEd candidate having her name on the SLST panel Rashmoni Patra had shaved her head to protest the delay in getting her appointment letter. Trinamool Congress spokesman Kunal Ghosh had met with the protesters and assured them a meeting with Basu. After the meeting on Friday, Ghosh said that on instructions by the Chief Minister a process of untangling the recruitment problem has started.

“Both sides have reached common ground on some of the issues and efforts are being made to resolve it as soon as possible,” he said. The SLST protesters had appealed for the process to be completed by February 1 so that their recruitment could start at the earliest. “We are hopeful that soon we will be able to return home with an appointment letter,” a representative of the job seekers told the media on Friday.