Chandigarh: 108 ambulance service will not run across Punjab even on Friday. The employees have called for a 72-hour shutdown to press for their demands. If their demands are not met, their strike may go ahead. Meanwhile, Jikitsa Healthcare, which runs the 108 ambulance service on contract, has termed the employees’ strike as illegal. The company has said that employees should return to work or else legal action will be taken against them.
The 108 Ambulance Employees Association says that when the ambulance is government, then they should also be freed from the contract system and merged with the department.
President of the union Manpreet Singh said that they should also be given salary allowances on the lines of Haryana. The employees who have been fired by the company should be reinstated. While the company says that the employees are being paid salaries as per the standards of the Punjab government.
The association demands that the government give them a 10 percent salary hike after taking them into the department. Apart from this, the salary increase arrears made during the last ten years should be paid along with interest.
All employees should be given accident and sickness insurance of Rs 50 lakh. Apart from this, the employees are demanding that if an employee becomes disabled due to accident or any other reason during the job, then his family member should be given a job and pension facility to the victim.