STATE TIMES NEWS
Srinagar: Police on Monday used force to scuttle a march by hundreds of National Health Mission (NHM) employees, who are on strike since March 1 demanding regularisation of their services in the Jammu and Kashmir government here.
The striking employees assembled under the banner of All J&K National Health Mission Employees Association at Press Enclave in the heart of the city and tried to march towards the Chief Minister’s high-security Gupkar residence here but were stopped by police shortly.
Police initially used batons to disperse the protesters and later burst a few teargas shells after the employees refused to disperse and continued with the march, officials said adding nearly a dozen protesters were taken into preventive custody and lodged at Kothibagh police station.
Condemning the police action, a spokesman of the striking employees said police used batons and fired teargas shells resulting in injuries to a number of employees.
The NHM employees initially had been on a 72-hour pen down strike, which they later extended till today to press for their demands including regularisation of their services.
The strike by 13,000 NHM employees hit the patient care at various district and sub-district hospitals and Primary Health Centres across the Valley.
The NHM employees are demanding equal pay for equal work, regularisation of their services and other benefits on par with other government employees, claiming that most of them have completed about a decade of contractual service and have crossed their age bar limit.
Criticising the government for its approach, senior CPI(M) leader and MLA Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami demanded formulation of a comprehensive policy to regularise the employees working under NHM in Jammu and Kashmir.
