Govt accepts SGPGI staff demand,strike called off

Until last evening,the government had maintained that it would not hold any talks with the employees until they called off their strike. It had even ordered the closure of the institute.

The climbdown came after state Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi,soon after her arrival from Delhi,visited the institute to express her solidarity with the employees. Later,she also met Governor T V Rajeswar and submitted a memorandum.

Later in the day, institute director AK Mahapatra assured the employees that the government would their accept demands,but the employees demanded a written assurance by some senior official or the minister,which forced Ravindra Singh to visit the institute. Joshi said she did not want to intervene in educational matters,“but I found the employees’ concern genuine. Moreover, the patients were suffering. So I decided to meet them and take up the matter.”

Dr AK Bhatt, Chief Medical Superintendent of the institute,said: “The employees have been given a written assurance that no administrative action would be taken against them. They have resumed work and now we will try to restore the services as soon as possible.”

Asked about the patients who were shifted to other hospitals due to the strike,he said: “It is up to the patients. If they wish to come back,they can contact the doctors concerned,beds are vacant anyway.” The employees were demanding that the government rolls back its recent order in which it had decided to pay SGPGI staff at par with state level employees.

Previously,SGPGI employees used to be paid at par with AIIMS,Delhi. But the state government had lowered their salary and brought it at par with state level employees.