JNTU contract employees demand regularisation

 Hyderabad: More than 1,400 contractual faculty from 12 universities across the state called for a strike on Monday demanding regularisation of services. Staff from the JNTU, Hyderabad, where 224 assistant professors are working on contract, said that they were qualified as per UGC and AICTE norms and were teaching for more than 15 years. The protestors said that in addition to the existing colleges in Hyderabad, new engineering colleges were being set up under JNTU despite a dearth of teaching staff. Around 500 professor posts are vacant in JNTU-Hyderabad, they said. The faculty members urged the government to agree to their demands as the perfect Teachers Day icing on the cake. They warned of an indefinite strike if the authoriti es failed to oblige.