NHM staff on pen-down strike against delay in salary

A pen-down strike by NHM employees began on Monday against the repeated delay in the release of salaries.

Employees said the salaries of NHM employees serving under the Health Department, Punjab, in Jalandhar district were often being released by the government with a delay of months due to which there is resentment among the employees against the department and the government.

A pen-down strike was started by the NHM employees and the employees, under District Programme Officer Dr Sukhwinder Kaur, met Assistant Civil Surgeon Dr Jyoti Phukela.

They said the salary of October has not been released yet, due to which the employees are feeling financial and mental stress. They said they had made requests to the government in meetings, but the attitude of the government and the department was disappointing.

They added that it was surprising that salaries were released to regular employees across Punjab in the first week of every month, but the NHM employees working on nominal salaries on contract had been made to wait.

They said all employees had gone on a pen-down strike from December 1. This protest will continue until a concrete policy is formulated regarding salaries.