Over 18,000 city teachers stayed away from work in protest and threatened to launch an indefinite strike after Diwali if the state government failed to reject Sukhtankar report.

``We are planning to launch a statewide indefinite agitation after the Diwali holidays if the government still does not listen to our pleas. We are giving enough time to the state to think over the matter,'' said the President of the Greater Bombay Secondary School Teachers' Association, Manohar Patil.

The teachers added that the state has deliberately held back the implementation of the Fifth Pay commission by introducting the Sukhtankar Committee Report earlier this year. ``There is no sukh

(happiness) in the Sukhtankar report as it tries to stop our improved wages asper the Fifth Pay commission. For example, a secondary school teacher's monthly basic pay is supposed to be between Rs 5,500 to Rs 9,000, but the Sukhtankar Committee has only reccommended it to be between Rs 5,000 and Rs 8,000,'' said a striking teacher.

According to Patil it was not proper of the committee to reason that since there are over five lakh teachers in Maharashtra compared to 50,000 from the Central government, the Fifth Pay commission scales cannot be implemented.

``Thousands of teachers from various schools thronged Azad Maidan today and we have also decided to hand our charter of demands to the Collectors of all the 22 districts in Maharashtra. We will put maximum pressure on the state government to take back the Sukhtankar report,'' informed Patil. He also added that the teachers were assured by the government way back in April this year that the Fifth Pay commission will be implemented, but that did not happen.

The teachers also claimed that all the 1100 schools in the city could notconduct any classes due to today's token strike. However, the secondary school classes will resume from Saturday.