After three months of not receiving his salary, a government school teacher from the Bolangir district requested leave to work as a laborer. IAS Ananya Das, the State Project Director, stepped in and ordered the teacher's salary to be released immediately.

The senior bureaucrat oversaw the distribution of each district's teachers' salaries. The senior IAS officer provided instructions to the branch manager of CANARA Bank's Bapujee Nagar branch in Bhubaneswar regarding the distribution of funds to the districts for teacher salaries for FY 2024–2025.

Letter From The OSEPA:

“In inviting a reference to the subject cited above I am to enclose herewith a statement containing the details of fund release amounting to Rs 398,32,82,003, to 30nos of DEO-CUM-DPC Accounts towards the disbursement of Teachers Salary for the FY 2024-25,” the letter from the Odisha School Education Programme Authority (OSEPA) read.

“The amount may be debited from our SB Account and corresponding credit be given to the bank account nos of 30nos of DEO-cum-DPCs today positively as per the statement attached,” it further stated.

Background Story Of The Teacher:

Prabhudatta Sahoo, a teacher at Government Primary School at Bandhanbahal village in Puintala block of Bolangir district, hit the headlines after he applied for leave to work as a labourer as he had no money to buy daily essentials, after being deprived of salary for three months.

His leave application stated that he was under severe financial constraints and has no other option rather than working as a daily wager to support his family. His leave was supposedly granted by the school headmaster.

Reason for the Salary Delay:

As per preliminary reports, salaries of Odisha State Assistant Teachers cadre (ex-cadre) were delayed due to technical snags in digiGOV website which is used to process their salaries. The salary delay is not just limited to Sahoo alone. Teachers of ex-cadre throughout the state have allegedly faced delays.

It is believed that IAS Ananya Das’ intervention may help all the teachers get relief from the financial burden.