Doctors resume work, but civic workers continue their protests

L-G offers Rs 300 cr loan to two corporations

A majority of civic doctors and nurses ended their strike on Friday evening while a small section of resident doctors and all sanitation workers, teachers and other employees continued their agitation on the 10th day to demand timely salaries.

Senior doctors and nurses resumed work in Hindu Rao Hospital and Rajan Babu Institute for Pulmonary Medicine and Tuberculosis, among hospitals, within hours of Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung offering a relief package of Rs 300 crore loan from DDA to the two cash-strapped corporations for paying wages to their employees till March.

The money offered by Jung was in addition to the nearly Rs 700 crore offered by the AAP government earlier in an unsuccessful bid to end the strike.

The three mayors of BJP-ruled corporations told reporters in the evening that some more positive developments on ending the strike were expected on Saturday.

Sources in North and East corporations said doctors under the banner of Resident Doctors Association have decided to continue their agitation, implying that services in civic hospitals may not immediately become normal.

Earlier, a group of civic doctors, nurses, teachers and engineers met Delhi Health Minister Satyendra Jain who gave strong signals after the interaction that the striking workers might return to work after their unions’ meeting. But the good news from engineers and teachers did not come till late in the evening even as non-lifting of garbage by sanitation workers worsened sanitary conditions in many east Delhi colonies.

Jung, who heads the Centre-controlled Delhi Development Authority, met the three mayors and MCD employees and offered Rs 300 crore loan to the corporations and appealed to the MCD employees’ unions to call off their strike.

“With a view to resolve the issue at hand and keeping in mind the difficulties being faced by the people of Delhi, the LG made a unilateral offer of Rs 300 crore to the North and East Corporations from the DDA,” said Raj Niwas in a statement.  “With the additional Rs 300 crore, the North and East Corporations got a total of Rs 1,000 crore which will take care of the salaries of all employees as well officials till March 31,” it added.