Will support govt in Assembly elections if demands met: Sangh
Tribune News Service
Panipat, August 7
The protesting NHM employees continued their protest at Panipat and Sonepat civil hospitals on Wednesday. A day after the female NHM employees inked their demand for regularisation on their hands with mehndi, employees started a hunger strike to press for their demands. The protesters also raised slogans against the state government.
In Sonepat, the employees, led by Sheela Antil and Rajesh Chhikara gathered outside the Civil Hospital in the morning and employees Satish Dahiya, Aman, Amit, Sheela, Nirmala, Ravinder and Rampati sat on a hunger strike. Referral Transport System (RTS) president Ravinder inked their demand ‘NHM ko Pakka Karo’ on his forehead.
In Panipat, the protesting employees, led by NHM Karamchari Sangh District President Amit Malik, gathered in the hospital and staged a dharna there. A total of 10 employees sat on a hunger strike. Malik said the government was making a policy to regularise other government employees and the NHM employees must be added to it. Malik further said nearly 18,000 NHM employees were on strike and they held over 10 lakh votes in the state which made up around 20,000-25,000 votes per Assembly. If the government regularised the employees, they would support the government in the upcoming elections, he said. Malik further said that the BJP-led government had given the benefits of service bylaws to the NHM employees in 2017 but it was yet to give them other important rights due to which they were on a strike.
All major health services, including referral transport (ambulances), nursing in the rural health institutions, immunisations have been affected due to the strike. Regularisation, LTC, gratuity, earned leave, child care leave, Seventh Pay Commission and cashless medical facility, among others are the main demands of the protesting employees, Malik added.
