Staff on contract at Karnal medical college hold 2-hour strike over job regularisation

Scores of Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam (HKRN) employees along with contractual employees of the Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College (KCGMC) on Monday staged a protest in the premises of the Medical College for two hours, demanding regularisation of their jobs. Due to the two-hour strike, the medical services except emergency ones were largely affected.

The protesting employees alleged that even after a year of applying on the portal, they were not regularised. The employees raised slogans and expressed their resentment over rejection of their applications.

The protesting employees said the Haryana government had introduced provisions in 2024 for job security for eligible contractual employees who had completed five years of service. After the government’s directions, employees applied through the official portal.

The employees alleged that after submitting their applications, their forms have been rejected. “We have not been informed as to why our applications were rejected despite fulfilling the required service criteria,” said Ravi Sharma, one of the applicants.

“After the state government had introduced the Job Security Act in 2024, eligible contractual employees were to receive job security until the age of 58. Portal was launched by the government last year and employees were asked to apply through it. Over 600 employees of KCGMC submitted their applications. These applications were examined by the higher authorities before being forwarded to the headquarters. The applications of two medical colleges were approved, while applications of employees of KCGMC were rejected,” said Jaspreet Singh, another employee. He further said it brewed resentment among them, prompting them to hold a peaceful two-hour symbolic protest.

He said they have not received any concrete explanation as to why their applications were rejected. “Our applications are now showing rejected on the portal, “ he said.

Parveen, another employee, termed the situation as injustice and said that most of them have completed more than five years of service. Some employees have been working for 10 to 12 years. They urged the state government to look into the matter, provide a clear explanation for the rejection of their applications and grant job security to all eligible employees.