Irfan Tramboo
Srinagar, Dec 12: The Government has failed in framing a draft regularization policy for more than 8000 National Health Mission (NHM) employees even after the passage of more than one year since the employees were assured of the same.
Last year, all the employees working under the Mission observed a strike to press for their demands. The administration under the previous Governor, Satya Pal Malik-in order to make them call off their strike-had assured them that their demands were “genuine” and “something will be done about it.”
After the assurance of the then Governor, more than one year has passed, but the Government has not come forward with any road-map regarding the regularization process of the employees ranging from doctors to paramedics who are working in far-flung areas under difficult circumstances.
Apart from other demands, the major demands of the employees-which were even acknowledged by the Government-included regularization of their services and equal pay for equal work.
Spokesperson J&K NHM Employees Association, Abdul Rouf told Excelsior that there has been a status quo maintained by the Government with regard to their demands. “These are our demands which were assured to be taken care of by the then Governor; but so far, we have not seen any development in this regard,” he said.
While Government has been giving numerous benefits to other employees, the NHM employees are compelled to settle for peanuts that are being given to them at the end of the month, he said.
An official in the NHM told Excelsior that the regularization of thousands of employees was not a small task and that the higher-ups were on to it. However, not much has been done so far.
“The budget needed for paying salaries to these employees is to be taken into the consideration; the issue is there, but nothing substantial has been done so far in this direction,” he said.
The employees have appealed to the Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu to take personal interest in resolving the issues of the NHM employees who now serving in the Mission for last so many years now.
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