Organisations to protest privatisation move in health, education on Feb 12

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, February 6

A massive demonstration to counter the government move to privatise health, education and other services will be held in the city on February 12 at 3 pm. A brief convention by the Committee against Privatisation of Essential Services will be held at Teachers Home, Bathinda, prior to the protest.

Ajit Pal Singh, press secretary of Association For Democratic Rights (AFDR), stated this on Wednesday. He said the committee had been constituted by representatives of trade unions, public and democratic organisations on the initiative of AFDR, Bathinda unit, to counter the government move to privatise essential services.

A meeting regarding the protest was held in which representatives of various organisations participated, including Sukhmander Sidhu (Health Employees Association), Baljinder Singh (Democratic Teachers Front-DTF), Surinder Dhir (Punjab Health Department, Ministerial Staff Union), Suranjana Rani (Asha Facilitator Union), Shingara Singh (Bharti Kisan Union-Ugrahan), Chand Singh (Bharti Kisan Union-Dakonda), Parshotam Mehraj (Bharti Kisan Union-Krantikari), Jagmail Singh Mehraj (Krantikari Kisan Union), Amarjit Honey (Kirti Kisan Union), Jagsir Mehraj (Krantikari Majdur Union), Sewak Singh (Punjab Khet Majdoor Union), Simerjit Kaur (Punjab Students Union-PSU) and Sarbjit Maur (Naujawan Bharat Sabha).

After holding the meeting, the leaders, including AFDR district president Bagga Singh and general secretary Pritpal Singh, said by privatising health and education, Punjab Government was not only depriving the people of their basic rights of a healthy and respectful life but was also washing its hands off its constitutional duty.

The representatives of the organisations demanded that the government roll back the PPP model and raise the health and education budget to at least ten per cent of the total budget to meet the growing needs of the people of Punjab and to provide them basic essential services at their door steps.