NHM staff try to gherao Dy CM Soni's house, face 'police wrath'

PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 10

Contractual employees of the Health Department under the National Health Mission from all over the state held a demonstration outside Deputy Chief Minister Om Parkash Soni’s residence at Rani Ka Bagh area here on Friday.

They were demanding the regularisation of their jobs while police personnel had tough time in stopping them from reaching and gherao the residence of Soni. The NHM employees confronted the policemen who had barricaded the road leading to his house in the posh locality.

The police allegedly used mild force to stop the agitators from proceeding towards Soni’s house. They had a tough time in controlling the large crowd of NHM employees staging the protest against the Punjab Government.

A staff nurse, Monu, alleged she was slapped by a male cop while a woman constable tossed the turban of another NHM employee. “Is it not ‘be-adbi’?” she questioned. She said she would file a complaint against that cop.

Speaking to mediapersons, she said she had joined the department in 2008 and even after a lapse of 13 years, she was not regularised. She said there are thousands of such employees who were seeking regular jobs.

Dr Inderjit Rana, national president (Ayushman) and Punjab president of NRHM Employees’ Association, pointed out that Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi had announced that the jobs of around 36,000 contractual employees had been regularised, but no notification was issued in this connection. As a result, besides the contractual employees of the Health Department, employees of other government departments were also on agitation path. He said the NHM employees were manhandled by policemen.

Earlier, the protesters took out a rally at Golden Avenue and then marched towards Soni’s house. On reaching there, they raised slogans against the Punjab Government and the Deputy CM.

They alleged the government seemed least bothered about its employees and the health of the people. They said the association had been fighting for their genuine demands for a long time and consecutive governments never paid attention to their legitimate demands.

Later in the evening, the protesters were pacified when OP Soni agreed to meet them in the morning at 10.30am at his house.