Functioning at govt offices,hospitals hit by strike

The airport did not get much affected. Captain Deepak Shastri,director of Lohegaon airport,said,“The operations at the Pune airport were not affected. Except for a couple of Kolkata-bound flights of Indigo and Jet Airways,other flights were on schedule.”

The railway authorities denied any problem. “All local and long-distance trains ran without any problems,” said Suhas Lohokare,railway spokesperson. Madhav Ghotmukle,member of the Rickshaw Panchayat,said,“Since autorickshaw drivers do not have affiliations with any labour organisations,rickshaws were providing services just like any other day.”

At Sassoon Hospital,routine operations were postponed and student nurses were brought in to take care of the patients in emergency room and wards of four government hospitals in the city as 1,000 nurses joined the nationwide stir against price hike and to press for their demands.

Dr Arun Jamkar,Dean of Sassoon Hospital,said only emergency cases were attended. Student nurses from the nursing college were brought in to take care of the patients. Routine maintenance work was taken up and patients were not discharged today,Jamkar said.

Approximately 1,000 nurses from Sassoon Hospital,Aundh Civil Hospital,,Regional Mental Hospital at Yerawada and Employees State Insurance Corporation Hospital at Mohannagar participated in the strike. According to Suman Tilekar from ESIS hospital,only few nurses were allowed to work as per district collector Chandrakant Dalvi’s orders to take care of swine flu patients.

However,nearly 8,000 government employees from both state and central government employees associations stayed away from work. They gathered at the district collectorate and submitted a memorandum to district collector Chandrakant Dalvi to be forwarded to the state and central government. Representatives of the state government workers union said the bandh was 100 per cent successful. “We received a good response,” said president of state government’s association Ravindra Jagtap. At the district collectorate division heads attended office but not the employees.