Govt’s inflexible stance on NPA condemnable: Bir Devinder

The doctors are protesting over the report of Sixth Punjab Pay Commission that recommends de-linking of their non-practicing allowance (NPA) from their basic pay.

Chandigarh Responding to the decision of doctors in Punjab to go on strike for three days from July 12-July 14 in protest against the state government, former deputy speaker of the Vidhan Sabha, Bir Devinder Singh, has slammed the government.

Former Punjab deputy speaker Bir Devinder Singh (HT photo)

“It is preposterous that the state government has failed to resolve the issue to the satisfaction of the Joint Government Doctors’ Coordination committee and the PCMSA,” he said. The doctors are protesting over the report of Sixth Punjab Pay Commission that recommends delinking of their non-practicing allowance (NPA) from their basic pay.

“The inflexible attitude of the state government against the reasonable demands of Covid frontline warriors is condemnable. The exemplary services rendered by the doctors’ at a phenomenal risk, during the Covid pandemic, disregarding the safety of their own families, must be acknowledged by the government with modesty,” he suggested.

He added that the Indian Medical Association (IMA) had provided an alarming information that 776 doctors lost their lives in the second wave of Covid; in the first wave, according to IMA figures 748 had died.