Chanting slogans and demanding immediate administrative relief, protesting officials warned that if their grievances are not addressed by Oct 12, the entire education department across Maharashtra will come to a complete halt. Mumbai: Hundreds of education department officials gathered to protest against alleged unfair suspensions, crippling investigative pressures, overwork, and video calls that go late into the night.
The education department is currently under investigation regarding the Shalarth ID scam, where bogus entries on the govt payroll portal led to thousands of fake profiles created by some education department officials, which chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said in the state assembly last July could be worth 2,000-3,000 crore. A protesting official pointed out that 33 officers have already been suspended out of a total of around 600 officers in the department.
Addressing career progression and administrative changes, another senior director-level education department official said, “Personnel with twenty to twenty-five years of experience are being replaced by individuals who have only passed an exam,” referring specifically to IAS officers being posted to positions formerly held by MPSC-recruited local officials. Voicing deep concern over the legal and investigative climate, an education department official questioned how an officer can do their work while under continuous investigation. Protesters pointed out that reviewing fourteen years of files and legacy processes for the Shalarth ID scam investigations takes up all their time, yet day-to-day work, school visits, and visitors cannot be cancelled or ignored. Highlighting the legal vulnerability, another education department official alleged that First Information Reports are routinely filed without any independent preliminary inquiry being conducted first. The agitation also brought to light severe disciplinary and structural grievances from the workforce. Furthermore, an official from the Thane ZP education department noted that a sharp spike in court cases has vastly increased their daily workload.
Principal Secretary of the School Education Department told TOI, “We will be meeting them and discussing the various issues raised by them.”