Shimla, February 16 Hundreds of ambulance workers associated with the 108 and 102 Ambulance Workers' Union held a massive protest outside the National Health Mission office in Shimla on Monday, raising several demands, including the payment of minimum wages.
The union is affiliated with the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU).
The workers demanded double overtime wages for 12-hour duty shifts, implementation of all statutory leave benefits, and assurance that wages are not deducted for periods when ambulances undergo maintenance or insurance procedures.
They also demanded strict enforcement of orders issued by the Himachal Pradesh High Court, Labour Court, CJM Court Shimla, and the Labour Department regarding the payment of minimum wages.
During the protest, CITU state president Vijender Mehra alleged that hundreds of pilots, captains, and EMTs working under Medswan Foundation within the National Health Mission (NHM) have been facing exploitation for years. He said that workers are neither paid the government-prescribed minimum wages nor compensated for overtime despite working extended 12-hour shifts.
Mehra further accused the management of mentally harassing the ambulance workers, who try to raise their voices against alleged exploitation. "Union leaders are either being transferred or are being pressured into resigning, while several workers are reportedly being kept off duty for months without any explanation," he said.
"Workers are seeing irregularities in the implementation of Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) and Employees' State Insurance (ESI) benefits, as both employers and employees' share is being deducted by their salaries, resulting in a loss of Rs 2,000 each per month," he said.
After the protest, a delegation of the union met NHM Managing Director Pradeep Thakur who assured that all their demands will be considered. He also assured them that employees who were allegedly terminated or transferred unlawfully would be reinstated.
Thakur also assured them that a meeting of NHM officials, union leaders, and Medswan representatives will be held in Shimla on March 7 to address their remaining demands.