Not allowed maternity leave, say women staff members at Aam Aadmi Clinics

Aparna Banerji

Jalandhar, May 1

Women staff members at Aam Aadmi Clinics today held a meeting here demanding the provision of maternity leave which, they said, was currently not being allowed to them. They also demanded postings closer to their home districts.

The staff members said 839 women assistants working at an equal number of Aam Aadmi Clinics across the state were languishing without any maternity leaves. The women employees alleged that while many had resigned when they were nine months pregnant as they were unable to carry out their duties anymore, at least three had recently suffered a miscarriage due to no leaves.

Representatives of the women assistants said of the 839, over 10 women staff members were pregnant at present and 60 to 70 had been posted 400 to 500 km away from their home districts. The two prime demands of the staff include posting in their home districts and allowing maternity leaves.

Parven Kaur, leader of the Aam Aadmi Clinic women assistant staff who hails from Bathinda, said: “Since we work on a daily wage basis, there are no leaves for us. Out of the fear of losing their jobs, many women took to a gruelling commute from their home district to their place of work, due to which some even suffered miscarriage. Recently, three women staff had miscarriages. In February this year, a staff member who was eight months pregnant lost her baby in an accident while she was travelling in a bus from her home district to the place where she was posted. The issue was also taken up with the Director, National Health Mission (NHM).”

Jaspreet Kaur, Aam Aadmi Clinic assistant staff from Sangrur, posted in Nawanshahr, said: “Many of us were posted away from our homes and are being denied maternity leave which is the fundamental right of a woman employee. Without leaves, we can’t even tend to our families. All contractual staff hired after exams have sanctioned leaves. We were selected after the exams on a merit basis, but are being denied this right.”

The women staff members said if the state government failed to fulfil their demands, they would intensify their protest in the coming days.

The women employee leaders from various districts present in the meeting included Parveen Kaur (Bathinda), Jaspreet Kaur (Sangrur), Amandeep Kaur (Jalandhar), Amritpal Kaur (Kapurthala), Sarabjit (Mansa) and Kamaljit Kaur (Pathankot). They said they were recruited as assistant staff members at Aam Aadmi Clinics. They said they had approached AAP MLAs, Health Minister and department officials several times, but their issues were not addressed.

They demanded from Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann that their demands be addressed failing which they would be forced to intensify their struggle.