NRHM employees gherao MLA’s house, rounded up
Saturday, 21/03/2015
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=127137&boxid=58855&uid=&dat=2015-03-21
Jalandhar : The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) employees union on Friday gherao the house of Jalandhar Central MLA Manoranjan Kalia over the demand of issuing notification of regular pay scales by the Punjab government.
A protest rally was carried from Civil Surgeon Office to the local Jyoti Chowk before reaching MLA Kalia’s house and handed over a memorandum for Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Health Minister Surjit Kumar Jayani and Principal Secretary Health Punjab.
Following the protest, a battery of Jalandhar Commissionerate police reached the spot and rounded up the agitating members. District Administration officials also reached MLA Kalia’s house and pacified the agitating the staff members. The NHM union members raised anti-government slogans and sought implementation of full pay scale.
No emergency services were given by the ANM staff working under the NRHM during the indefinite strike. NHM employees from Primary Health Centres (PHC) Community Health Centres (CHC, ANMs, staff nurses, administrative staff, all programmes under NHM such as IDSP, TB control programme, cancer control programmes took part in the strike while health services remained suspended.
NHM district accounts officer Sanjeev Kumar demanded that NHM cadre should be given full pay scale while salaries and perks should be given according to the centre government norms. “The government should implement the pay scale model of RMSA and SSA teachers in the state for the NHM union,” he said.
The NHM employees maintained that on February 22 last year, the Punjab government had committed to regularise the service of ANMs but a year has passed but the government has backtracked from its promise. “Instead of fulfilling the promise, the NHM mission director issued a letter on March 9 this year that announced rationalisation of ANMs and fixed salaries accordingly,” they said. Meanwhile, the NHM union members said that their indefinite strike would continue till their demands were accepted by the state government with immediate effect
