With talks proving inconclusive, the strike of the field employees of 108 ambulance service continued on the second consecutive day on Thursday. After failure of the talks convened to end the logjam, the GVK- EMRI 108 ambulance service management issued orders to the striking employees to join their duties before 8 pm on Friday failing which they would be terminated. In an effort to persuade the striking workers to get back to their work, the representatives of the association of field workers of the service were invited for talks by the director general ( DG) medical health and family welfare department Dr T C Pant on Thursday afternoon. However, the meeting held at state secretariat and attended by additional secretary Arunendra Chauhan and state head of GVK -EMRI 108 service Manish Tinku failed to thaw the ice.
After the meeting, Tinku issued orders, asking the striking workers to return to their duties before 8 pm on Friday. He later told The Pioneer that those who fail to turn up would be terminated with immediate effect. Tinku added that the company has started a recruitment drive and the new employees would be ready to discharge their duties within a week’s time. Meanwhile, the strike continued to affect the state health services for the second consecutive day on Thursday. In different districts, the chief medical officers ( CMO) provided some drivers to the service while some drivers from Uttar Pradesh were also called to make the fleet operational. In spite of these efforts, just 50 percent of the ambulances was operational on the roads on the day.
More than 700 field workers of the service which is considered most vital for saving lives of patients have been on strike since Wednesday.
The workers are annoyed over the decision to cut salary in connection with the mass leave they had undertaken in August last. Besides, they are demanding timely payment of salaries and allowances aside from their basic salary being fixed as per the labour laws. They also want the ambulance workers not be unnecessarily transferred and a committee be constituted to look into their problems.