600 nurses demanding pay hike arrested
Over 600 nurses, who were on strike for the last two weeks to demand pay scale revision and promotions, were arrested here today after they defied a government order to resume duty.
As many as 607 nurses were arrested as they continued their strike even after the Essential Services Maintenance Act, 1979 (ESMA) was invoked by the government, Raipur Additional Superintendent of Police Vijay Agrawal told PTI.
The government had invoked the Act on May 28, asking the nurses to resume duty, he said.
The nurses were arrested when they defied the orders and tried to take out a march, the ASP said.
All of them were sent to the Raipur central jail, he said. Nurses working at government hospitals across Chhattisgarh had proceeded on strike on May 18 to press for demands, including pay scale revision and promotions.
Authorities
at
the
Dr
B
R
Ambedkar
Memorial
Hospital,
Raipur,
the
biggest
government
hospital
in
the
state,
roped
in
MBBS
students
to
fill
in
for
the
protesting
nurses.
Raipur
district
collector
O
P
Chaudhary
said
that
the
action
was
taken
when
nurses
defied
the
order
to
resume
duty.
Of the arrested nurses, 227 have been lodged inside the jail, while others are put on the jail premises. The nurses kept on the jail premises were being released and asked to resume duty, he said.
Chhattisgarh
Paricharika
Karmchari
Kalyan
Sangh
(CPKKS),
an
association
of
nurses,
accused
the
government
of
suppressing
a
peaceful
protest
using
the
police.
The
association
has
been
demanding
a
revision
of
pay
scale
for
the
last
three
years
but
the
state
government
gave
only
assurances,
CPKKS's
media
in-charge
Tikeshwari
Sahu
said.
Nurses were on strike since May 18, but there was no response from the government, she said. Some of the nurses who were arrested today are pregnant and yet they have not been released, Sahu said.
Opposition
Congress
accused
the
ruling
BJP
of
acting
as
a
"dictator".
"For
the
last
15
days,
nurses
were
on
strike
for
their
legitimate
demands.
Medical
services
were
badly
hit,
but
instead
of
paying
attention
to
their
demands,
the
state
government
is
sending
them
behind
bars,"
state
Congress's
communication
wing
chief
Shailesh
Nitin
Trivedi
said.
The
state
government
was
neither
concerned
about
the
patients
nor
the
nurses,
Trivedi
alleged.