Rajasthan ambulance service strike intensifies

The ongoing state-wide strike of the Rajasthan government ambulance service employees intensified today on the third day following failure of their talks on wage hike yesterday.

"A meeting was held with the state government yesterday, but it proved futile. Employees did not accept 3 per cent wage hike offered by the government. Their other demands too were not accepted," said president Virendra Singh of Rajasthan Emergency Ambulance Employees Union.

Singh claimed that almost all of the 1500 ambulances of various government hospital have gone off the road by today following failure of the talks yesterday, when the ambulance service employees in the state capital too joined the stir.

The Rajasthan government's ambulance service employees have been shunning work since Monday to press for their 15-point demand, including the salary hike, which, they say, has been denied year after year for the last five years.

Singh elaborated that the government has 730 ambulances under '108 service' and 588 under '104 service,' named after the telephone numbers 108 and 104 allocated for hailing them, besides 200 other base ambulances operating for Primary Health Centres and Community Health Centres