Nurses call off strike after government reaches out

NEW DELHI: The pan-India strike of the nursing union was called off late on Saturday night after the government assured the agitating nurses that FIRs lodged against

NEW DELHI: The pan-India strike of the nursing union was called off late on Saturday night after the government assured the agitating nurses that FIRs lodged against them will be withdrawn and there would be no pay deduction for the two days they were on strike.

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The government also assured the nurses that opinion of the major nursing unions would be considered during the September 12 meeting on the Seventh Pay Commission.

Nurses at 33 Delhi government hospitals and several dispensaries had earlier refused to join back work on Saturday, despite the government having invoked the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA).

Thousands of nurses from Delhi’s CGHS dispensaries and hospitals run by the MCD, Delhi government and the Central government had joined the strike under All India Government Nurses Federation (AIGNF) on Friday to demand non-practicing allowance and changes in grade pay.

“We will not go back to work till the government accepts our demands. If they want to send us to jail, we will happily oblige. This will be our Jail Bharo Abhiyan,” Sister GK Khurrana, secretary general of AIGNF, had said earlier in the day.

Under ESMA, striking nurses can be arrested without a warrant. If convicted, they can be imprisoned for up to six months. The prison term is double for those instigating others to participate in the strike.

The Delhi government, too, had upped the ante against the agitating nurses. “The names of absent nursing staff are being taken and FIRs would be lodged against them if they fail to report for duty. Action will also be taken against them under ESMA, which involves arrest and detention with the likely consequences of termination of services,” said a government release.

The government has also advertised for posts of contractual nursing staff and the medical superintendants of the Delhi government hospital have been asked to hold walk-in interviews. “Medical superintendents of all Delhi government hospitals will hold walk-in interviews for engaging nurses on daily wages with effect from Monday, September 5,” the release read.