Clearing air on the issue of non-practice allowance (NPA) to the doctors and 13th-month salary to the Punjab police personnel, Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal on Thursday maintained that no decision have been taken to stop the two.
Manpreet, following the Cabinet meeting, made it clear that it had not withdrawn the NPA prescribed for the doctors in the State, while also clarifying that the 13th month salary for the Punjab cops has also not being discontinued.
Dubbing the reports of discontinuation of NPA and 13th salary as “rumours”, Manpreet said the two would continue to be the same as before.
Notably, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) have been targeting the Congress-led State Government for its plans to stop the NPA provided to the doctors in government hospitals and dispensaries in Punjab and allowing them to do private practice, besides stopping the 13th salary to Punjab police personnel.
It has been learnt that the State Government has been mulling to discontinue NPA and 13th salary to cops — with the sole aim to improve state finances at least to some extent.
Dubbing the discontinuation of NPA as a “lopsided decision”, AAP had cautioned the it would hit the public health services in the State, besides giving more teeth to the health mafia active in Punjab. “Allowing doctors to do private practice in the name of saving just Rs 153 crore is a lopsided decision all set to hit health services in the State. The worst affected would be the poor people,” AAP leaders had stated.
Notably, the Capt Amarinder government, during its tenure in 2002-07, had also proposed to discontinue the NPA but had to roll back following intense protests.
In fact, the as “anti-people” and “anti-doctors” move was also opposed by the Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA) doctors which decided to raise the issue with the state Health Minister.
PCMSA president Dr Gagandeep Singh maintained that the NPA is given to the doctors for their long study of the medical education which leads them for their late entry to the government services, besides because of their engagement in tough and high-risk duties like emergency duty, VIP duty, and postmortem duties.
The Association had maintained that the decision would be a step towards privatization of the health services across the State, besides further deepening the prevailing crunch of specialist doctors in the state.
Manpreet clarification came on the day his cousin and SAD president Sukhbir Badal asked the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to immediately direct the Finance Department not to implement its decision to stop the 13th salary of Punjab Police personnel.
“We will fight this move tooth and nail, and even if the Congress Government succeeds in implementing this anti-people step, we will reverse it immediately after formation of an SAD- BJP government in the State,” said Sukhbir.
Sukhbir said that the law and order situation had already deteriorated in the State with Congress Ministers and MLAs patronizing gangsters and stopping the State police from functioning professionally.
“Stopping the 13th salary of police personnel will help anti-social elements further,” he said.
Notably, the 13th salary was given in lieu of 30 discretionary holidays which were forsaken by police personnel in the interest of bettering policing.
The facility had been granted to the police personnel in 1979.
“It is because of this sacrifice made by the police personnel that our police stations are manned efficiently round the clock and sufficient personnel are available for patrolling and other law and order duties. Doing away with the 13th salary will have a detrimental effect on police functioning and will cause great inconvenience to the general public,” he said, adding that doing away with it would adversely affect 80,000 police personnel and their families.