Aurangabad, Sept 2:
Hundreds of health personnel appointed on a contract basis have staged a Thiyya Andolan in front of the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC), for want of their due wages, today. The administrator A K Pandey assured them of releasing their wages in two weeks; issue them experience certificates and also hire them on sympathetic grounds if their services are required in future. After the assurance, the young agitators withdrew their agitation.
It may be noted that the AMC through its health section has recruited 750 personnel including doctors (MBBS, BAMS, BHMS), nurses, lab technicians, ward boys, data entry operators etc. on a contract basis in the wake of Coronavirus. Of which, the decision on discontinuing the services of 600 was taken on Wednesday night without releasing their due wages. This disappointed these personnel and around 300 personnel gathered at the AMC office today morning. They met the AMC administrator saying that they would have been given one months notice before action. Besides, the services have been discontinued without releasing their due payments. Hence the civic chief gave them the above assurances. The campus witnessed the rush of contract staff for two or more hours. The City Chowk police station has deployed a tight police bandobast.
AMC got Rs 60 crore
The recruitment was made under the guidance of the municipal officer of health (MoH) Dr Neeta Padalkar. Hence the agitators went to her cabin but were disappointed when she was not there. It is learnt that the district collector has approved the AMC's proposal seeking a fund of Rs 8 crore to pay the wages to the contract staff through the District Planning Committee. Prior to this approval, the AMC also received a fund of Rs 1.25 crore, but the details of its expense could not be available. The AMC has received funds to the tune of Rs 60 crore to take measures to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic situation in the city, so far.