Doctors to daily wage-earners, all have a wishlist for new govt in Karnataka

BENGALURU: As Karnataka stands on the cusp of a new government being sworn in on Saturday, people from a wide cross-section of society are hopeful that their aspirations will find traction with the powers that be.
There’s no dearth of medical infrastructure in the state, but there’s always a shortage of doctors and trained medical staff. Sanitation work is under way, but the wages of those employed for the job are low and their employment is only contractual. Yet another academic year is about to commence, but the scrapping of the National Education Police (NEP) still weighs heavy on students’ minds.
These, in a nutshell, are just a few sample concerns that millions in the state are being confronted with – daily. As a new government is barely hours away from taking office, stakeholders are keeping their fingers crossed, hoping that their prayers will be answered over the next five years.
Dr Ravi N, secretary, Karnataka government medical teachers’ association, said data on vacant posts have already been sent to the department concerned. About 25-30% of the sanctioned posts are currently lying vacant, he said.
“The sanctioned posts have remained so for 30 years. This number needs to be revised, commensurate with the current population,” Dr Ravi said.
Doctors are also worried that besides them, other health sector employees such as radiologists are also few in number, while the taluk hospitals seem to be having none of them at all. District hospitals, meanwhile, are overburdened due to lack of decentralisation.
Hiring of health workers on a contract basis is another menace plaguing the department that is already struggling with low wages and lack of facilities for permanent staff.
In the run-up to the just-concluded assembly elections, while government employees demanded a pay hike in keeping with pay commission recommendations, advocates sought legislation to protect their rights.
Kumar S, president, Insource workers’ organisation, said once the new government takes charge, they will approach the chief minister, deputy CM and health minister. “We have 26,000 staffers under 186 cadres and we want them regulraised. Six states have regularised these workers,” he said.
As many as 17,000 pourakarmikas (civic workers) and allied staff, who were assured that their services would be regularised by Randeep Sujrewala, the Congress national general secretary in charge of Karnataka, are waiting for their long-drawn struggle to finally end.
Mutthala, the president of a pourakarmika association with 11,000 members registered with it, said they were hoping that the Indira Canteens would start functioning to capacity, helping their members find food at a subsidised rate amid sky-rocketing inflation.
Students are also wondering what the future of higher education will be once NEP is scrapped, as promised by the Congress party in its election manifesto.
“We are glad that the textbook revisions proposed last year will not be effective in any way, but now we will have to see if NEP will be scrapped as promised,” Apoorva CM, the vice-president of AIDSO Bengaluru, a students’ organisation, said.
The association is also worried about the future of the UVCE (University of Visvesvaraya College of Engineering) as it now stands disassociated from Bangalore University under the pretext of making it an ‘IIT-like’ institution.
As we count down to the inauguration of a brand new political dispensation in the state, the questions, doubts, demands and expectations linger.