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Ludhiana: Health officials to hold statewide protest in Chandigarh on Monday
Protestors demand ₹5k incentive to be merged with the basic pay, CHO cadre approval, equal pay implementation, release of pending arrears
The agitation by Community Health Officers (CHOs) in Ludhiana against the Punjab government’s new incentive guidelines entered its third day on Friday, with employees submitting memorandums to the civil surgeon, senior medical officers (SMOs) and local member of legislative assembly (MLA) Jagtar Singh Dayalpura, while announcing participation in a statewide protest in Chandigarh on Monday.
Under the banner of the joint front CHO Punjab, the protesters reiterated their opposition to the new guidelines linking the promised ₹5,000 incentive with performance benchmarks. They demanded that the amount be merged with the basic salary without conditions, immediate approval of the CHO cadre, implementation of equal pay for equal work, release of the pending loyalty bonus and revision of the incentive structure.
CHO representatives said they had been intensifying their agitation over the past three days. On Wednesday, memorandums were submitted through the civil surgeon’s office to the mission director of the National Health Mission (NHM), Punjab.
On Thursday, CHOs staged protests, burnt an effigy outside the civil surgeon’s office in Ludhiana and submitted another memorandum, warning that the agitation would be intensified if the government failed to address their demands.
On Friday, CHOs submitted fresh memorandums to health authorities and informed them about the proposed state-level protest outside the National Health Mission (NHM) headquarters at Prayas Building in Sector 34, Chandigarh, on Monday.
A delegation of the joint front also met former union minister Maharani Preneet Kaur at her Patiala residence and submitted a memorandum seeking her intervention. According to the employee representatives, she assured them that their demands would be taken up with the appropriate authorities. They also said Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Hardeep Singh facilitated a discussion with MLA Ashwani Kumar Sharma, who assured them that the demand for sanctioning the CHO cadre would be raised during the assembly session.
