Professors at Patan Multiple Campus have been staging ‘Pen Down’ protest since a week demanding release of their salary.The professors have not been paid their salary since the last month of the last fiscal year.

They alleged that campus chief Aman Shrestha had intentionally blocked their salary after a difficult situation arose in the campus due to dispute between student unions and the campus chief.

Prof Govinda Narayan Jha, president, Patan Campus unit-Tribhuvan University Teachers Association, today said that earlier on August 2, they had handed memorandum to the campus chief with a five-day ultimatum demanding release of their salary, but the campus chief was mum on their demands, therefore they had to stage a pen down from August 7.

He said, “The protest is not our wish, but a compulsion to press the campus chief to release our salary. Since, we have not got salary of the last fiscal year too, we are worried,” he added. He stated that they tried to talk to the campus chief to settle the issue but he and assistant campus chief were not present for talks.

According to Professor Jha, Shrestha has been absent from campus for the last few weeks. Earlier in the last week of June, the campus chief had shut down the campus halting all educational and administrative activities, demanding security for the campus chief and the staff.He had notified that he had to shut down the campus after there was a scuffle between CPN-UML aligned All Nepal National Free Students Union (ANNFSU) and UCPN-M aligned All Nepal National Independent Student Unions over the issue of Free Students Union (FSU).

The professors also blamed the university of not doing anything to sort out the problem.

“We are going to talk to university officials very soon,” he added. He stated that even campus employees had been deprived of their salary since the last month. He further said that if the university released their salary, they would join their duties immediately. Currently there are around 425 professors and 200 employees working in Patan Multiple Campus. Shrestha could not be contacted.

source: the himalayan times,15 August 2013