Agartala: At least 40 teachers have died of psychological trauma following the Supreme Court’s order terminating the jobs of 10,323 teachers recruited from 2010 to 2014 during the previous Left Front government’s rule.

The teachers died as they were unable be bear trauma and pressure of losing their jobs, this was revealed by All Tripura 10323 Adhoc Teachers Employees Organisation president Bimal Saha recently.

The Chief Justice of Tripura High Court, Deepak Gupta, in 2014 had quashed the recruitment policy and terminated all the recruitment done from 2010 to 2014. A total of 10,323 teachers were recruited by the erstwhile government. However, the government filed a petition with the Supreme Court challenging the verdict of the High Court but the Supreme Court withheld the verdict of the high court in 2017.

“The Supreme Court later gave a one-time relaxation to the 10,323 teachers. According to the order of the Supreme Court, the jobs of the teachers were supposed to end by December 31, 2017 but with the relaxation, the jobs were extended till March 2020 on ‘adhoc’ basis,” Saha said.

A condolence meeting was organised on Sunday demanding compensation for those teachers' families who died due to pressure of losing their jobs.

“We have gathered here and we appeal to the government that those who have died, their families should receive facilities like government jobs under the die-in-harness policy to solve the problems of those family members,” Saha added.

He also said that a sit-in demonstrate will be organised in New Delhi Jantar Mantar sometime in January demanding punishment for those responsible for the loss of lives. If the present government does not solve the problem then we shall soon hold statewide movement.

State education minister Ratan Lal Nath had earlier said that the government has tried in all ways to save those jobs but the Supreme Court verdict upheld the order of the high court.

Meanwhile, over 2,000 teachers among the 10,323 have already been recruited in other departments and positions in separate recruitment done by the government while the remaining of them are about to lose their jobs on March 31, 2020.