The EMRI 108 ambulance services will come to a grinding halt from Monday morning as employees of the GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI) have decided to cease work in protest against the State government’s failure to terminate the contract with the private firm.
The strike was called by Meghalaya EMRI Workers’ Union (MEMRIWU) after the expiry of the 72-hour ultimatum given by the union to the State government to scrap the contract with GVK-EMRI.
A delegation of the union had met the joint managing director of the National Health Mission (NHM), who assured that another round of meeting will again be held with the managing director on Monday to try to resolve the crisis.
Yesterday, the spokesperson of the union Roypar Kharraswai said that the demand for the immediate termination of the contract with GVK-EMRI was made as the company has failed in providing quality emergency services to the people of the State.
According to Raswai, although the State government sanctioned Rs 12 crore, yet the GVK-EMRI has been indulging in cost cutting since 2018 which has affected the smooth operation of the emergency services in the State.
“The practice of cost cutting by the GVK-EMRI has led to shortage of manpower as the company wants to make profit for themselves,” Raswai alleged.
He also informed that monthly the State government sanctioned Rs 12 lakh with an additional amount of Rs 5000 per ambulance that required five persons per ambulance for providing services to the public, but the employees are overburdened with heavy workload and meager salary.
Demanding for cancellation of the contract with GVK-EMRI, Raswai maintained that the State government is capable of taking over the emergency services as experienced employees are already available.
Recently, the management of the GVK-EMRI had appealed to the employees not to disrupt the services as it would cause hardship to the citizens, who are in need of emergency services.
State head of the GVK-EMRI, Deepankar Choudhury had said that the last tender period is coming to an end and the State government has initiated the process for a new tender that is underway.
