Telangana: 3,000 Hospital staff protest delay in pay
The Union has approached the director of Medical Education Dr Ramesh Reddy asking for his intervention to release the payments.
Hyderabad: Despite going on strike and carrying out a dharna every day, the nurses, sanitation workers and security in 21 hospitals in the state have not received their salaries for two months. A total of 3,000 agitated employees are protesting as the delays are following a pattern that they are not able to handle.
Mr Narsimha M, General Secretary of All India Trade Union Congress explained, “There is only one contractor dispensing money to more than 3,000 employees in the health department. The contractor handles five major hospitals Osmania General Hospital, Gandhi Hospital, Koti Maternity Hospital, MNJ Cancer Hospital, Niloufer Hospital and other area hospitals in the state. We had a strike for four days at a stretch but there was no response from the government. There is a peculiar pattern to the payments being made. At a stretch, for three to four months, salaries are paid regularly. Then, there is a gap of two to three months when salaries are withheld. Then we do a dharna or go on a strike, after which the payment is released. This is becoming a regular pattern.”
The Union has approached the director of Medical Education Dr Ramesh Reddy asking for his intervention to release the payments. Meanwhile, the contractor Agile Security Private Limited has stated that payments are not released to them every month by the government and that is causing the delay.
The union has also approached Health Minister, Mr Laxma Reddy but it has not helped in expediting the payments.