District admin clears dues of women employees at quarantine centre after protest

NOIDA:

NOIDA:

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High drama was witnessed at the district hospital in Sector 39 on Sunday when nearly a dozen grade-IV contractual women employees climbed atop the terrace of the 18-storey building and started raising slogans against the Gautam Budh Nagar district administration for alleged non-payment of their pending salaries.

These women employees are working in the housekeeping department of the quarantine centre at the district hospital. The district administration has recently decided to close the quarantine facility at the hospital, and to develop it into a dedicated Covid-19 hospital.

However, the matter was resolved in a few hours after the district administration, taking cognizance of the agitation, constituted a two-member probe committee, including Gautam Budh Nagar chief development officer (CDO) Anil Kumar Singh and additional chief medical officer Dr Amit Vikram, to look into the matter and immediately redress their demands.

“Things have been sorted out. They are happy and willing to work again,” said the CDO.

When contacted, the agitators also said that their dues have been cleared. “We were left with no option but to stage a protest as our demands would fall on deaf ears of the hospital administration. We have got our pending payments today and don’t have any grievance now,” said a demonstrator, preferring anonymity.

Singh said that after the decision of making the district hospital a dedicated Covid-19 hospital, these employees had doubts that they would not get their pending salaries.

“After this matter came into the cognizance of the administration, I personally met them and asked the reason behind the agitation. They said that they were apprehensive about their payments, and had no option other than to demonstrate to catch the attention of higher authorities,” he said.

Singh said that the administration has made immediate payments of the pending amounts to the demonstrators.