-Protest Rally in Thikriwala Village, Barnala District, to Awaken the Government to Their Legitimate Demands
Patiala, 19 January
National Health Mission (NHM) contractual employees, who have been working on temporary contracts in Punjab’s Health Department for the past 15-20 years under the National Health Mission, are facing betrayal from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government. This government, which had made firm promises before coming to power, now appears to be fleeing from those commitments under the intoxication of power.
The Punjab government has continued its old policy of false assurances and delaying tactics, refusing to give a clear positive response to the genuine demands of NHM employees. This has led to widespread anger among the workers. As a result, the NHM Employees Union Punjab organized a protest rally today in Village Thikriwala, Barnala District, during a state-level government program, to expose the government’s failures and express their resentment.
NHM employees from across Punjab gathered, distributed pamphlets highlighting the government’s betrayal of promises, and voiced their outrage. In the last two years, despite nearly 30-35 meetings, no resolution has been achieved. The meetings have only resulted in more empty assurances and nothing concrete.
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This was stated by Sandeep Kaur Barnala, State President of the NHM Employees Union Punjab, while speaking to the press. She said that to protect their future and existence, the National Health Mission employees under the Health Department were forced to hold this protest demonstration today, to make the government listen to their rightful demands and wake it from its deep slumber.
She strongly warned the government that if it does not accept the core demands of NHM employees—such as equal pay for equal work, gratuity, increase in age limit, etc.—it will have to face the consequences in the coming times. The entire NHM workforce will give its answer during the upcoming assembly elections.
On this occasion, union leaders including General Secretary Ram Singh (Kapurthala) and Amandeep Singh (Patiala) raised powerful slogans against the government. They clearly stated that if the government does not prioritize and resolve their legitimate demands soon, the NHM Union will besiege and protest against the government at every turn.
Among those present at the protest were Gulshan Sharma (Faridkot), Dr. Waheed (Malerkotla), Dinesh Garg (Patiala), Jasvir Singh (Tarn Taran), Mandeep Singh (Tarn Taran), Gurpreet Bhullar (Muktsar Sahib), Amarjeet (Fatehgarh Sahib), Dr. Simarpal (Moga), Ranjit Kaur (Bathinda), Dr. Shivraj (Ludhiana), Dr. Pankhudi (Jalandhar), Jasbir Singh (Moga), Amandeep Kaur (Nawanshahr), and other employees
