750 AIDS Control Society employees go on indefinite strike in Punjab

Staff says they are being assigned frontline duties in Covid-19 units and as such should be covered under the state’s insurance

Around 750 staff members of the Punjab AIDS Control Society initiated an indefinite strike across the state on Thursday.

Employees of the AIDS control society staging a protest in Ludhiana on Thursday. (HT PHOTO)

The employees have demanded a salary hike and permanent jobs as most of them have been earning a measly Rs 13,000 per month for the last 20 years, said Jasmail Singh, general secretary of the of Punjab AIDS Control Employees Welfare Association (PACEWA).

Sixty contractual staff members of the PACEWA staged a protest against the state government outside Ludhiana’s civil hospital. The employees also went up to the civil surgeon’s office and raised slogans against the government.

Mahinder Pal, the association’s president said, “Besides being deployed during de-addiction programs, the AIDS Control Society employees are also being assigned frontline duties in Covid-19 units.”

Pal said the state government must cover the employees under the state health insurance.

He said that the strike will continue till the worker’s demands are met.