Contractual workers protest outside Lady Hardinge hosp

New Delhi: The Contractual workers of Lady Hardinge Medical College on Thursday protested outside the hospital demanding reinstatement of terminated staff and payment of pending salaries.

About 70 staff have been illegally terminated without any notice by the contractor as his tenure is ending. The staff also said that they haven't been paid their salary for the past four months. Praveen, who was doing duty inside the Covid ward, was affected with the virus one month back. "My whole family got infected and some even had to be hospitalised. I had told the hospital about it. After a month when I came back for work, I was told that I have been terminated," he told Millennium Post. He has been working as a multi-tasking employee at Lady Hardinge for five years.

Mallika Begum who is also a MTS said that the problem has arisen since the past two years. "The contractor keeps on changing every six months, which is not a problem but why do we have to lose our jobs due to this," she said.

According to the staff, Jai Balaji, who is the previous contractor, was given an extension by the hospital for three months. "In this regard, the contractor took Rs. 13,000 from us as a security deposit," she said, adding that soon after he was replaced by another contractor who asked them to give Rs. 15,000 to retain their jobs.

Out of 70, about 34 staff have come forward and raised the issue. A petition has also been filed by All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) in the same regard. The matter is now listed at Delhi High Court on Friday.