PANJIM: The Goa Human Rights Commission (GHRC) has taken suo-moto cognizance of the HERALD report regarding the non-implementation of the new and revised House Building Advance (HBA) scheme to around 300 teachers from the aided schools, over the last seven months.
The GHRC has issued notice to the Director of Education seeking their reply on the issue by September 20.
“Upon perusal of the news item published in the daily Herald dated August 18, under the caption ‘From May 2020, DoE keeps aided school teachers waiting for House Building Advance’, we are of the opinion that suo-moto cognisance of the same should be taken,” the order issued by Chairperson Justice UV Bakre reads.
HERALD had reported that for the last seven months, close to 300 teachers from the aided schools are struggling to get the benefit of the revised HBA. These teachers were beneficiaries of the old HBA scheme, which was discontinued from May 2020. The teachers are forced to pay 7.9 per cent interest on their housing loans, despite being eligible for the scheme.
As per the revised scheme, which is applicable to the beneficiaries of the earlier scheme, State’s advance will be restricted to a maximum of five per cent interest and anything above that will be charged from the beneficiary plus the principal component share.
There are also close to 100 new applications, filed by the teachers, which are also not cleared by the Directorate of Education (DoE), which has now informed the teachers that the file has been sent to the Finance Department seeking clarification on whether the scheme is applicable to teachers from aided schools.
