NRHM employees without salary for five months

Srinagar, Feb 9 : Hundreds of workers including doctors and paramedics working under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in held Kashmir’s health institutions are without salary for the past five months.

Official sources told Greater Kashmir that the delay is due to “pending liabilities of the state government under the NRHM.”

“The state governments have to provide 10 percent share in salary of the NRHM employees. But they don’t contribute the amount regularly. In some cases they divert the salary amount to other things,” they said.

Employees said in absence of salary, they are facing immense hardships. “We are finding it hard to run our families in absence of wages,” they said. “Our children are suffering. Nobody is listening to us.”

Accusing officers of forcing them to pay two-month salary as ‘security deposit’, the employees said: “We are being asked to receive one month salary but pay two month amount as security deposit which is against the norms of the scheme.”

Those without salaries since October last year, in certain cases from September, include allopathic and ISM doctors, paramedics, health workers, ANMs and Helpers.

 Expressing strong resentment over the inordinate delay in release of their salary, a delegation of NHRM medicos strongly condemned “the failure of the authorities to manage the central funds properly.”

“We are without salary for the past several months. The higher-ups in the department are well aware of our problems. But they are turning a blind eye to resolve them,” the aggrieved employees said. “Salary is our right. Nobody can deny us this right, especially when we have attended our duties regularly and worked in hospitals with dedication.”

Besides NRHM staff, the employees working under Family Welfare Scheme are also without their salary for the past three months.

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SA/EN