NEW DELHI, January 29: The OPD, Emergency and other clinical services at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) will be closed on February 2, 1999 as the faculty has decided to go on a one-day token strike.According to a press release: ``We are being pushed into this steps by an inconsiderable, unsympathetic and obdurate bureaucracy.'' The faculty members, numbering around 400 and including top specialists in various areas of medicine, have called for an immediate review of the pay scales recommended by the Bakshi Committee set up by the Health Ministry.To press for their demands, the faculty had decided to go on mass casual leave on January 25, but some members returned to work after the Prime Minister intervened and requested them not to.On January 21, the Health Ministry had given pay notifications which were the same as those recommended by the Vth Pay Commission. But according to the release: ``The claim of giving us more is false.''In a resolution it has sent to the Health Ministry, the Faculty Association says that ``these pay scales and allowances are far below those deserved by the faculty of the Institute.'' It also expressed ``a deep sense of anguish at the treatment meted out to the faculty in total disregard to its stature, contribution, dedication and track record.''The package offered by the Government, after the faculty marched to the Prime Minister's residence in protest, is a watered down version of the recommendations of the Bakshi Committee.The faculty is otherwise in agreement with the committee's recommendations, except in the case of pay scales for additional professors for whom they had demanded a higher scale of Rs 18,400-Rs 22,400. The package rejects this.The Bakshi Committee recommends Rs 12,750 to Rs 16,500 for assistant professors, Rs 15,100 to Rs 18,300 for associate professors, Rs 16,400 to Rs 20,900 for additional professors and Rs 22,400 to Rs 24,500 for professors.The Government has offered Rs 11,625-Rs 15,200 to assistant professors, Rs 14,300-Rs 18,300 to associate professors, Rs 16,400-Rs 20,900 to additional professors and Rs 18,400-Rs 22,400 to professors.
