SUBHASH MISHRA
Dhanbad, Nov 22: The much-awaited election of the Binod Bihari Mahto Koylanchal University Teachers Association (BBMKUTA) seems to have fallen into limbo again.
In the first week of October, the outgoing committee had announced to decide the election date in November just after the Chhath festival. However, even after three weeks, no date has been declared. Moreover, even the date for the annual general body meeting (AGM) has not been announced to fix the date for the poll process so far.
BBMKUTA spokesperson Dr Jitendra Aryan, when contacted on Tuesday, said that due to the university shifting to the new building, convocation and engagement of teachers in the examination, AGM has not been organized to decide the date. “However, in two to three days, the date for the election would be announced,” he said.
Notably, the election of the BBMKUTA’s new committee is pending since 2021 due to the pandemic and other unavoidable reasons.
BBMKU became a university in 2017 with 10 Dhanbad and Bokaro-based constituent colleges of Vinoba Bhave University, Hazaribag. In 2018, the first election of the teachers’ body was held under the supervision of the Federation of Universities Teachers Association of Jharkhand (FUTAJ). FUTAJ president Prof NK Singh (Dumka) and general secretary Prof Rajkumar (Ranchi) were the observers in that election.
Teachers of a Dhanbad-based constituent college said that all of them are surprised over the delay in holding the second election of the body. “In 2018, there were two factions of teachers and both held elections separately. But now since both the factions have mended their fence, holding up the election for a long time does not justify from the part of the outgoing office-bearer,” said the teacher requesting anonymity.
Prof BN Singh, who made separate teachers’ body in 2018 and this time mended the fence with Prof Himanshu Shekhar Choudhary’s faction in the interest of teachers, said that he has opted out himself from all activities till February 2023 as he is busy with his daughter’s wedding preparations. “So I can’t say why the election of teachers body is not being conducted and when it would be held,” he said.
Prof BN Singh was general secretary of VBU TA Hazaribagh when BBMKU Dhanbad became a university in 2017. He reportedly enjoyed the support of teachers and thus formed a teachers’ body separately. But this time it is said that he would not run for any post in the election.
