NRHM workers gherao Principal Secretary, seek job regularisation

Slogans were raised against Mahajan and workers said that it was because of her that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who had once agreed to regularise their jobs, backtracked from the statement.

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Speaking to Newsline, Karamjeet Kaur, president of the NRHM union, said, “The Chief Minister had agreed to regularise our jobs, but Mahajan said that it would lead to additional burden of Rs 155 crore on the state government, after which the CM again postponed the matter. We are not going to end the strike even if our jobs are terminated. We will join back only after our jobs are regularised.”

Kaur added, “Every worker on strike is carrying a suicide note and if anything happens to anyone, the state government would be responsible for it.”

On April 17, Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal had assured the NRHM staff that the government was in touch with the Centre and had asked them to resume their duties. There are approximately 7,500 NRHM workers in the state, who get paid between Rs 8,000 and Rs 10,000.

Mahajan told the media, “NRHM is a central government scheme, and we are in touch with them to get approval for regularisation as 75 per cent of the salaries come from them. Workers should join back their duties at the earliest.”