NRHM employees to hold protest tomorrow

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, June 15

NRHM contractual employees, including multipurpose female health workers, will stage a state-level protest in Chandigarh on June 17 against the state government over their long-pending demands which have not fulfilled.

The employees are demanding regularisation of jobs from past long time. They had earlier too protested for two months in the favour of their demands while the government had deducted their salaries for holding the protest.

Recently, the multipurpose health workers also staged the protest. They were demanding the adjustment of their workers, who have already working, in direct recruitment of 1,301 contractual employees. They said that the government had decided in its cabinet meeting to recruit around 1,301 multipurpose workers directly but it had not mentioned to give a preference to workers, who are working, in the recruitment. They demanded that the preference should be given to those workers who are already working in the job recruitment.

The NRHM employees are also demanding the release of one-month salary, which was deducted by the state government during their earlier protest.

The employees had staged a protest last year over their long-pending demand of equal pay for equal work and even that time they wrote a letter to Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal demanding the increase in their salary instead of reducing it.

Following their protest, the state government had cancelled the notification of salary deduction but did not accept their demand of regularisation.

Under NRHM around 9,000 employees including a number of doctors are working in Punjab.

Narendra Kumar, NRHM State convener, said, “We will stage a protest in Chandigarh on June 17. We only want that the government should accept our genuine demands. If our demands are not met then we will intensify our stir and this time it will be a do or die battle for us.”