Gurdaspur, February 1
In a classic case of a handful of government employees holding hundreds of residents to ransom, the Punjab State Health Department Subordinate Offices Association has been on a pen-down strike for the past four days following which job seekers who have to get their mandatory general medical (GM) certificates before joining their new jobs have to endure an agonising wait.

This wait for job seekers may prove disastrous as many of them fear that they may well lose out on their new jobs if the health department fails to provide them with the obligatory GM certificates on time.

The work of issuing birth and death certificates has also hit a roadblock with the ministerial staff refusing to give these documents to residents. The backlog relating to the issuance of these certificates is a long one. The staff has asked the authorities concerned to seek alternative remedial measures to ensure that residents do not suffer.

Civil Surgeon Dr Vinod Beri confirmed that work in the department had been badly hit but things would be back to normal once the ministerial staff resumes their work. However, nobody in the health department knows when will the strike end?

District president of the association Ashok Thanewal claimed that they would continue the strike till their demands were met by the state government.

One of the main demands is to promote 60 accountants and 20 statistical assistants (SA) through an internal process instead of going in for recruiting these officials directly.

The strike is observed in all 13 health blocks of Gurdaspur and Pathankot districts. For health purposes, the newly created district of Pathankot is part of Gurdaspur district.

The strike is also likely to affect other employees of the health department as they may not be paid their salaries on time. The ministerial staff has to prepare their pay bills before sending it to the treasury for the clearance. In the absence of the clearance, hundreds of employees may well have to do away with their salary for February.

The case of septuagenarian Shanti Devi is reflecting problems of hundreds of others who flock to the civil hospital to get birth and death certificates. She has been visiting the department for the past six months but the employees’ concerned turn her back citing ‘minor objections.’ Under the Right to Service (RTS), the department should provide residents with these documents within five working days.

However, issuing such certificates has become a far cry for the department, which is woefully under staffed. Moreover, the ongoing strike has come as a blow to the residents for whom the wait to procure birth and death certificates has become more and more agonising.