108 Ambulance drivers give 2 days to govt to meet demands

Ludhiana: Drivers attached with 108 Ambulance service from across the state continued their strike for the fourth consecutive day on Sunday but decided not to block the highway after 12 noon which they had announced two days back.
Manpreet Singh Nijjar, president of 108 Ambulance Employees Association, said even as they had decided to block the highway after 12 noon on Sunday, but they didn’t do it. He said the decision was taken as the state government reached out to them through Ludhiana administration and asked them not to block the road following the demise of MP Santokh Singh. The government also sought two days to resolve the matter as the health minister will be out of state on Monday, he added.
The president said in view of the MP’s death and government’s request, they have given the government two days time. He said they have been told that the authorities will arrange a meeting with the ministers concerned by Tuesday.
He said their core committee will hold a meeting after two days and intensify the agitation if their demands are not met. He said the government has constituted a committee of four ministers to resolve the issue.
Meanwhile, members of the association said Santokh Singh Gill, father of singer Shehnaz Kaur Gill, was at Ladowal toll plaza to support them. Their demands included scrapping of contractual system and their merger with a government department, salary and allowances on the lines of Haryana, reinstatement of terminated employees.