The Meghalaya EMRI Workers’ Union (MEMRIWU) launched their strike action today after the expiry of the 72-hour ultimatum delivered by it to the state government.
The workers want the government to scrap the contract with GVK for running the EMRI emergency ambulance service in the state.
“The emergency service has totally come to a halt in the entire state from today morning after all the 54 ambulances and around 250 field staff joined hands with the union,” MEMRIWU adviser Roypar Kharraswai told Highland Post.
The union wants the state government to take direct control over the service, alleging that the staff, under GVK, are overworked and underpaid.
“All the materials and types of equipment, including vehicles, office buildings, expertise, etc belong to the state government and nothing belongs to GVK-EMRI. All the company is doing is helping to distribute our salary and, in the process, only draining away the funds that can instead be used to enhance the workers’ salaries, for maintenance and expansion of the emergency service, etc,” Kharraswai said.
As examples of how badly the workers are treated, he recalled that two EMRI employees died in 2015 in an accident and another two were left disabled after an accident in 2020 while on the job but the insurance cover provided to them was insufficient.
If the state government can have police and fire personnel under its own management, then MEMRIWU questioned why the same could not apply for ambulance staff.
“It seems that the government is not giving its top priority to the health service because it is more interested in liquor and casinos because they are getting something out of it,” Kharraswai said bitterly.
