GUWAHATI, June 29 � The State Government will act tough on doctors playing truant, and those shirking their responsibilities stand to face voluntary retirement or even compulsory retirement from service.
Addressing the media, Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today said that the Government was taking a stern view of doctors attending to duties in an irregular manner besides resorting to the practice of coming late and leaving early.
�The trend of truant doctors, especially in rural areas, has been on the rise since the last six months. We have asked the Deputy Commissioners to personally take up the matter of monitoring the lapses on the part of the doctors very strictly and report to us,� Sarma said.
Doctors who occasionally come to duty and doctors who do not attend to duty at all will face VRS or CRS. Doctors who do not stay at headquarters and reports late for duty will be served with a warning, Sarma said.
The State Government will also bring in a legislation for provincialization of venture schools under which the services of the teachers and employees will be regularized as government employees. "However, this will be subject to the condition that the school concerned recorded at least 30 per cent pass percentage in the last three years," Sarma said.
The regularization process will be in phases, with the first phase covering around one-third of the 95,000-odd teachers and employees of venture institutions. "The entire process would be completed within the term of this government. It will be a foolproof exercise and there will be thorough scrutiny of all documents of the institutions under well-laid-out criteria of law," he said.
The Minister also said that he expected the Right To Education (RTE) Act to be cleared in the next cabinet. "So far 18 States have passed the Act and we hope to do it in the next cabinet," he said.
Sarma said that as part of the Government's efforts to ensure greater commitment on the part of the teachers, he would personally write to the editors of newspapers and heads of political parties requesting them not to have teachers as news correspondents and active party office-bearers respectively.
"Teachers are government servants and as such they cannot be engaged in any other capacity apart from their occupation. However, I do not want to get into any confrontation on this issue, and I hope the teachers will understand the situation," Sarma said.
