India, March 3 -- In a coordinated show of defiance against finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema, members of the ETT TET Pass Teachers' Union on Tuesday climbed water tanks and mobile towers across 25 villages in Dirba.

The protest, sparked by unresolved grievances regarding salary scales and service conditions, began at Sular Gharat village on the Sangrur-Patran road before spreading to Dhandoli Kalan and Dirba town.

The primary cause of the agitation is an alleged discriminatory pay structure affecting 180 ETT teachers recruited in 2016.

State unit president Kamal Thakur said while 4,500 teachers from that batch were placed under the Punjab government's 6th Pay Commission, these 180 individuals were shifted to the central government'...