Despite ESMA, Himachal ambulance workers remain on strike

Ambulance services in Himachal Pradesh were hit today by a continuing strike, a day after the state government imposed the Essential Services Maintenance Act in the four worst-hit districts.

Several employees of GVK EMRI (Emergency Management and Research Institute), which runs the 108 and 102 services, went on strike on Monday.

Yesterday, the Himachal Pradesh government imposed ESMA in Shimla, Solan, Sirmaur and Chamba districts.

Ambulance drivers and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) who provide pre-hospital care to patients are accusing the organisation of not paying them enough for the long hours they keep.

'Why has the state government imposed ESMA on us? We are not government employees and ESMA cannot be imposed on private employees, said employees union head Pooran Chandra.

If the state government wants to impose ESMA, it should be imposed on GVK EMRI organisation responsible for running the 108 and 102 ambulances, he said.

The union is demanding that ambulance workers should be covered under a government policy, as in Haryana, to ensure they work only for eight hours.

In the absence of such a policy, GVK EMRI was exploiting the ambulance workers by forcing them to work for 12 hours a day, and sometimes even for 24 hours, the union leader claimed.

The union's sit-in near the state secretariat continued today. "Come what may, we will continue our strike till our genuine demands are met, Pooran Chandra said.

GVK EMRI's state head Mehul Sukumar claimed that the workers on strike wanted to be made government employees, which was not in the hands of the organisation.

He maintained that only a small number of the about 1,000 employees in the state were on strike, and that too at the instigation of some outsiders.

He said the organisation is calling its employees from the adjoining states and is carrying out fresh recruitment to ensure that the service is not affected.

Himachal Health Minister Vipin Parmar said the government had no option but to impose ESMA in four districts so that thw patients did not suffer. District authorities have also been asked to hire private ambulances.