NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Police rushed to the spot and doused the flames. They were then shifted to hospital, official sources said.
The teachers, four men and three women, had come prepared to immolate themselves and sneaked into the Speaker's residence with a container of kerosene oil despite heavy police deployment outside.
The Speaker was not present at the time of the incident.
Hospital sources said Banaja Roul, one of the teachers who attempted self-immolation, was in a critical condition.
Earlier, about 700 non-formal teachers agitating under the banner of the All Orissa Non-formal Teachers' Association, who have been on dharna outside the state assembly for over a month, marched towards the chief minister's residence to submit a memorandum.
After being refused entry by baton-wielding police, all of them courted arrest in the forest park area.
About 40,000 non-formal teachers have been without jobs since March 31 last after the centrally-sponsored non-formal education scheme was withdrawn.
The government had earlier assured these teachers that they would be absorbed in the newly-introduced education guarantee scheme (EGS) in phases.
Tell us what you think of this report
