108 ambulance staff call off stir

“Most of our demands were fulfilled. But some union members wanted all the demands fulfilled at the same time, which was not feasible. Even though I tried convincing them to fight for their demands through long-drawn struggles, they did not agree. So, I stepped down from my post,” said Somashekar. However, most of the members are now pursuading him to withdraw his resignation.

Govt concedes demands
The government has agreed to timely payment of the provident fund and insurance to all the employees.

It will also pay overtime money to women staff who work after midnight and provide 10 per cent increment with retrospective effect from April 1 this year. Besides, the government will cross-check the list of names of workers who have been fired “unnecessarily” by GVK EMRI (Emergency Management and Research Institute), and hold a monthly meeting at the district level to discuss grievances. It has also agreed to pay overtime money in the October salary, sources said.

However, the authorities have rejected the demand to appoint employees of the union as permanent government employees, and pay nurses working in EMRI on a par with nurses working in government hospitals.