NHM employees plan to gherao Chandigarh office on Dec 4 as strike over salary crisis enters second day

“Employees from multiple districts will converge at a common point in Mohali or Chandigarh and march to Sector 38. We are finalising the exact route, but the protest will go ahead.”

The strike intensified on Tuesday as employees prepared to submit memorandums to civil surgeons across districts. “Tuesday was a complete pen-down after marking attendance. On Wednesday, teams will meet district civil surgeons to highlight the crisis,” said Avtar Singh, another state committee member.

The unrest stems from the non-release of salaries for the months of October and November. Nearly 9,000 NHM employees across Punjab have not been paid. While the Punjab government has issued a sanction letter approving Rs 44.85 crore budget for November salaries, employees say they cannot trust assurances without actual credit in accounts.

“A similar letter was issued for October but salaries never came,” union members pointed out.

Employees have also accused the department of discriminatory practices. “Around 100 NHM staff posted at Prayas Bhawan get their salaries regularly every month, but the rest of us wait endlessly,” alleged Kamboj.

“Mohali is barely five kilometres from Prayas Bhawan, yet the budget seems to finish after paying only those posted at the directorate. This is done to avoid protests at the headquarters while others suffer.”

Even though Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers are not part of the current strike, they too face prolonged delays in payments. Amarjeet Kaur, president of the ASHA Workers Union, said over 18,000 ASHAs under NHM have not received incentives for three to six months in many districts.

“We get only Rs 2,500 as fixed pay and the rest depends on immunisation, maternal health and other assignments. Our total income ranges between Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 a month, and even that is not coming on time,” she said.

What led to salary crisis

Under NHM, 60 per cent of the salary burden is borne by the Centre and 40 per cent by the state government. The salary crisis, however, deepened after the Union government recently made it mandatory for states to upload complete staff and salary details on the SNA-SPARSH portal, a new “just-in-time” fund-flow mechanism for all Centrally Sponsored Schemes.

The system integrates the Centre’s Public Financial Management System, the state treasury and the RBI’s e-Kuber platform, ensuring that funds are released only at the moment of actual expenditure instead of being parked in multiple accounts. Departments must raise daily claims through the state IFMS, which are then electronically verified and transferred directly to the single nodal agency, in this case, the state government.

The aim is to curb idle funds, prevent leakages and create real-time transparency. But for NHM employees in Punjab, the shift has resulted in months-long salary delay, pushing workers towards another major protest in the state’s capital next week.