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North civic body agrees to release pending salaries, nursing staff may call off strike today
Nursing staff and health workers of five hospitals and 17 polyclinics under the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, who are currently on an indefinite strike demanding
Nursing staff and health workers of five hospitals and 17 polyclinics under the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, who are currently on an indefinite strike demanding payment of salary dues, may call off their stir Friday after the civic body said Thursday evening that it has released their salaries due till September 2020.
Over 800 health workers, including nursing staff, of five north corporation-run hospitals -- Kasturba Hospital, Hindu Rao Hospital, Girdharilal Maternity Hospital, Valmiki Infectious Disease Hospital and Rajan Babu TB Hospital -- have been on an indefinite strike since November 2 over non-payment of salaries over the past three to four months.
The civic body has also agreed to their demand that no coercive action should be against those who took part in the strike.
The representatives of the nurses union at Hindu Rao and Kasturba hospitals said they were yet to receive the salaries in their bank accounts and would call off the strike Friday only after getting a written assurance that no penal action will be taken against them for resorting to the strike.
The decision to release pending salaries was taken after north corporation authorities had a meeting with the agitating health workers on Thursday afternoon.
Jai Prakash, mayor, north corporation, said the demands of the agitating health workers have been met and their pending salaries till September 2020 have been released. “Their demands have been met and I appeal to them to call off the strike,” Prakash said.
BL Sharma, president Kasturba Hospital Nurses’ Union, said, “We had a meeting with the mayor and he said funds have been released and our salaries will be credited tomorrow (Friday). We are yet to get the money in our accounts. We also want the civic body to give us a written assurance that no coercive action will be taken against health workers who took part in the strike. We have been assured that both our demands will be met by Friday. If that is the case, we will call off our strike Friday.”
Nurses of hospitals across north corporation have not been paid the salaries for the months of August, September and October while paramedic staff have not been paid since June 2020. Last month, the corporation had paid the salaries of doctors till September 2020 after they went on a strike and this had irked the unpaid nursing and paramedic staff across north corporation hospitals.
“We are likely to call off the strike Friday after we get the minutes of the meeting in which the mayor had assured us that no action would be taken against the strike participants.He had also agreed to count the days lost to the strike as working days. We are likely to get the minutes by Friday and then the strike will be called off,” Indu Jamwal, president Hindu Rao Hospital Nurses Union, said.
