ITANAGAR, 12 Jul: The Arunachal Pradesh Teacher Educators’ Association (APTEA) has suspended its indefinite pen-down strike with immediate effect, following a written assurance from the state government on timely release of monthly salaries of DIET employees at par with other regular state government employees.

Education Commissioner Amjad Tak in a letter on 10 July assured the APTEA that the state government would henceforth release the monthly salaries of employees of 11 DIETs “in tune with the timeline for other regular state government employees.” The commissioner further assured that the provision for disbursement of salaries of 11 DIETs would be “explored” through the state exchequer from the next financial year onwards with due concurrence from the Finance Department and the Planning & Investment Department.

Responding to the assurance, the APTEA in a letter to the commissioner on Sunday stated that it has “temporarily suspended” the indefinite pen-down protest that began on 9 July with immediate effect “in good faith and in the larger interest of the DIET students and other stakeholders.”

While appreciating the government’s written assurance, the association, however, stated that the suspension should not be construed as a closure or settlement of the issue.

It stated that the primary and non-negotiable demand remains the regular and timely release of DIET employees’ salaries at par with other regular state government employees through the state exchequer from the next financial year onwards.

The association stated that the assurance came only after a prolonged struggle and at a time when the salary of DIET employees for the month of June remains unpaid.

The APTEA said it would closely monitor the file movement for the implementation of the written assurance, and urged the education commissioner to direct branch officials to provide the status of the file to the members of the APTEA.

The association said that it would have no hesitation in resuming the indefinite pen-down protest and adopting other democratic forms of agitation in case of failure to implement the assurance or any recurrence of delay or irregularity in salary disbursement.