Hospital cleaning staffer starts hunger strike over pay

Noida: Failing to get their concerns heard despite a seven-day long strike, one of the housekeeping staffers at the district hospital has started a hunger strike, causing chaos at the facility.
Anokhi Lal (45), who is one of the oldest staff members, has decided to spearhead their mission and said he would fast unto death. “I have been working at the district hospital for the past eight years. I have four children and two of them are studying. One of my daughters has started working at a beauty parlour due to our financial condition. The other is not studying. How can we feed our children with a salary of merely Rs 6,000?” he said.

The monthly salary of the housekeeping staff, who were getting about Rs 12,700, was reduced to Rs 7,613.

A chaos followed at the hospital when the workers on strike tried to stop the workers from the Super Speciality Paediatric Hospital & Post Graduate Teaching Institute (SSPHPGTI) from cleaning the hospital on Thursday morning. As the protest intensified, the authorities of the district hospital called police. “The Sector 20 SHO threatened to put us behind the bars and invoke National Security Act (NSA) against us,” said Monu, one of the protesters.

Meanwhile, the chief medical superintendent (CMS), Ajai Agarwal, has informed the staff they should join the sanitation workers under the Noida Authority or continue to work with the same agency on the current payscale. “The Authority is not paying for any of our staff other than the doctors. Hence, these workers will have to work as normal sweepers under the Authority’s contractors,” he said.

However, DM B N Singh said the city magistrate has been directed to look into the issue and the salary as per rules will be ensured.