Employees engaged under HDF stage protest, demand release of 14 months salaries

SRINAGAR: Employees of various hospitals in Srinagar engaged under the Hospital Development Fund (HDF) Monday staged a protest demanding regularization and the release of their 14 months pending salaries.

These employees mostly from Rainawari Hospital assembled at the Press Enclave amid surge in Covid-19 cases and said that they have been suffering even before the pandemic struck and the pandemic has made their lives difficult.

“We have been working as any other employee in the Health Department, but nobody is listening and addressing our issues. We are facing a tough time in this pandemic,” the protesters told Kashmir News Trust.

They said that for the last 14 months they are working without salaries and more than 50 per cent of their colleagues working under HDF have tested positive for Covid-19.

“This is a state of irony; no one is bothered even if we are facing hardships,” they said.

The employees demanded that their pending salaries must be released without any further delay as their families are suffering due to the indifference of the Government and also impressed upon the administration to regularize their services. (KNT)