Employees of the 108 EMRI emergency service have threatened to agitate if the state government once again fails to take control of the ambulance service.
The Meghalaya EMRI Workers Union (MEMRIWU) had, earlier this year, been pushing for the state to take over the service from the private GVK when the latter’s contract ended on March 31. However, much to the workers’ disappointment, the government extended the contract for another year.
Today, MEMRIWU served a two-week deadline for the state government to accede to its demands, which include higher wages besides the takeover of the emergency service.
Stating that the many assurances of former Health Minister AL Hek amounted to nothing, MEMRIWU publicity secretary Joseph Pyngrope said that the union members have also submitted a letter to current Health Minister James Sangma on October 4 but, to date, the government has not initiated talks or even bothered to respond to the missive.
“The contract will again end on March 31, 2021 and we want to send a clear message to the government that we no longer want the 108 emergency service to be privatised or persist under GVK EMRI management. If the government don’t listen to us this time we will intensify our agitation like never before,” he warned.
Pyngrope also claimed that EMRI’s Rs 8.80 crore in funding that it receives is not utilised properly by the GVK management, as annual pay rises and arrears have not been paid to the workers since 2016.
