Chandigarh: Close on the heels of the self-immolation of a teacher, the Punjab government on Monday clarified that it has taken all the steps to fulfill the demands of volunteer teachers.

"The government has already accepted all the demands. We simply do not understand why the union leaders took to the path of agitation when we have sympathetically accommodated all the volunteers within the given policy framework, as per their demands," said a government spokesperson.

The government's reaction came after a 27-year-old teacher, Kiranjit Kaur, an Education Guarantee Scheme (EGS) volunteer, set herself on fire in Kapurthala town of Punjab during a protest on Sunday evening. She died in Ludhiana early on Monday.

"Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has personally intervened to allow relaxations in the matter of recruitment, service conditions and examination requirements as demanded by the EGS volunteers in the past," said the spokesperson.

EGS centres were opened in Punjab for a stipulated period and were closed by the government on March 31, 2008.

"Despite closing EGS centres, the Punjab government had ordered all eligible EGS volunteers to be accommodated in Elementary Teacher Training (ETT) courses. Under this liberal dispensation, all eligible 1,480 volunteers had already been accommodated," the spokesperson added.

"Therefore, the continuing agitation of union leaders has no rationale," he pointed out. IANS