Agitators climbing atop water tanks and mobile phone towers to articulate grievances have become a standard practice now in Uttarakhand despite police claiming to have taken measures to curb such a tendency. Police were caught unaware on Tuesday again as four members associated with Malaria Protection Workers (MPW) Multipurpose Employees’ Union, carrying petrol in bottles, climbed up a water tank located in the campus of Dehradun Social Welfare Department, near Survey Chowk under Aaraghar Police post.
They demanded regularisation of their jobs while threatening to immolate themselves in case the authority remained unresponsive. Notably, the district police heads were earlier directed to take strict action against the protesters who climbed atop towers by way of stir.
Instruction was issued too to the district police officers to lodge FIRs under appropriate sections of IPC against such agitators. Dalanwala police station in-charge inspector Anil Kumar Joshi said that police forces have been deployed at protest site.
Upon receiving the information, police swung into action. But till the time the story was filed the protesters stayed put on the overhead tank. However, Garhwal Range IG/DIG Sanjay Gunjyal said an FIR has been registered under section 309 of IPC against four unidentified protesters who climbed atop the tank in the Dalanwala police station.
To express solidarity with them in their continuing stir from the overhead tank, some association members staged sit-in on EC Road near the water tank, sloganeering against the State Government for its alleged apathy over their demands.
However, initially, the association members were reluctant to disclose the names of the agitators who were perched on the water tank as part of the stir. later, they relented and disclosed the names. They were (may be fictitious names) are lalit, Jitendra, Bhupendra and Banti.
To resolve the logjam, Dehradun City Magistrate lalit Narayan Mishra held a meeting with the association members later in the day and assured them that a meeting would be arranged to facilitate them to talk to the secretary concerned.
Surendra Kumar, Uttarakhand CM’s media in-charge, also reached the protest site and talked to the association members, staging stir there. He also assured them that he would convey their demand to the Chief Minister. However, such gesture failed to thaw the ice as the protesters refused to get down, insisting that the stir would continue till the State Government passed an order (GO), fulfilling their demand.
Sudama Joshi, one of the association members, said that they have been protesting at Parade Ground since March 9 in support of the demands. Earlier, some members had sat on a relay hunger strike. But all these were of no avail, he said.
“Even a fast- unto death by three members at the protest site near parade ground since September 7 failed to nudge them into positive action. The administration lifted one of them Devanand on September 10 and admitted him at a hospital after his condition worsened,” he added.
Dwelling on the rationale of the agitation, he said 212 MPW workers were employed in the State Ayurveda service in 2008 on contractual basis under NRHM. These workers were appointed on a monthly stipend of Rs4000. later, in September 2014, the stipend was raised to Rs7000 per month.
He said that the services of these workers had been terminated arbitrarily on September 30 last when the Union Government had stopped funding their salaries.
Joshi said that they continued to work after the State health minister had asked them to. They had been working for over seven months without pay, he said. “We have no option but to intensify the stir now, given the grim state of things,” he added.