NHM employees call off strike, say will wait till 27th of Jan
Srinagar: National Health Mission (NHM) Employees Tuesday temporarily called off their strike, saying that they want to give the government some more time till 27th of January so that their demands are met.
The NHM employees who were on a 2-day strike from Monday, Tuesday—marking the second day of the strike—suspended the strike till 27th of January in order to give the government some more time to contemplate on their demands.
Spokesperson, All J&K NHM Employees’ Association Abdul Rouf told ‘Kashmir Vision’ that they have unanimously decided to temporarily call off the strike.
“We observed a 2-day strike to press for our demands, but we want to give the government some more time and for that we have decided to call off the strike till 27th January, till then, if our demands are fulfilled, good, if not, we will again be forced to go on strike,” Rouf said.
“We demand what the government promised us the formation of a committee which was to be tasked to see the possibilities regarding the regularization process, which has not been done so far, among other demands such as equal pay equal work and a full-fledged leave package,” he said.
The striking employees, under the umbrella of All J&K NHM Employees’ Association, are demanding the regularization of their duties, while also demanding the equal work-equal pay, among other unfulfilled demands.
Pertinently, the state administration Monday tried to play it safe by saying that the decision of the regularization of their (NHM Employees’) duties, is for the Centre to take, as the 90 per cent of the funds come from it.
Principal Secretary, Health and Medical Education AtalDullo had earlier assured that the whenever the time is appropriate, the government will take up the issue with the Centre regarding the regularization.
Notably, earlier in 2018, the NHM employees, while seeking attention of the government to their demands, had observed a 35-day strike, which culminated after the government and the employees agreed on an agreement, which still seems to be gathering dust.
The agreement, Rouf said, carried 9 demands put forth by the employees, “out of 9 only 3 demands have been met, rest are still pending,” he said.
Irfan Tramboo
