Sources said today that the HRD ministry was adamant on not giving into the demands of the striking teachers any further as it felt that the revised pay package announced earlier was adequate.

A senior official of the HRD ministry today ruled out any move on the part of the ministry to discuss the pay hike issue with the striking teachers. ``As far as the ministry is concerned, the pay package announced earlier is final and non-negotiable and was arrived at only after consultations with teachers' representatives,'' he said.

With the standoff between the teachers and the HRD ministry showing little signs of abating, teaching work across the country has come to a practical standstill.

The president of the All India Federation of University and College Teachers' Organisation(AIFUCTO) Dr K K Theckedeth told The Indian Express that the HRD ministry's attitude was ``unfortunate''. He said that the teachers were open to negotiations with the HRD ministry but were not going to accept the revised pay package in its current form.

The situation is only going to worsen with the Federation of Central University Teachers' Association (FEDCUTA) also resolving to go on strike from August 17 to 22 in support of the demands raised by AIFUCTO.

The FEDCUTA is the nodal organisation for teachers belonging to central universities including Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University.

A meeting of FEDCUTA executive committee, held here yesterday, decided to hold a relay hunger strike in front of the UGC building during the period to ``protest against the recent announcement on pay scales by the Human Resource Development ministry which did not incorporate all the recommendations of the UGC in the proposals.''

According to the agitational programme announced by FEDCUTA,representatives of all central universities would stage a hunger strike on August 17 which would be carried on by representatives of Delhi University, Jamia Millia Islamia, Jamia Hamdard, Indira Gandhi National Open University, Jawaharlal Nehru University.

FEDCUTA secretary Dr M Rais Khan urged HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi to immediately open negotiations with the teachers' representatives to implement the UGC recommended pay scales and avoid disruption of academic life.

While FEDCUTA has condemned the imposition of Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) by the Haryana government against the striking teachers, a report from Chennai said teachers of government and aided colleges in Tamil Nadu struck work for the third day today as part of their nation-wide agitation. In Mumbai, most colleges and university departments remained closed.