From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Jun 27: BJP MLC Kota Srinivas Poojary accompanied by former minister and senior party leader S Suresh Kumar, MLCs Tara Anuradha, D S Veeraiah, Y A Narayanaswamy and MLA Ravi Subramanaya staged a protest in front of the office of health and family welfare minister U T Khader at Vikasa Soudha on Friday opposing anomalies in the payment for staff nurses under Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) project funded by the Centre.

The department has been paying monthly salary of Rs 4,575 against the sanctioned salary of Rs 17,650 for staff nurses during the last three years, Poojary alleged.

Following the failure of the minister to provide convincing reply to the BJP legislators, Poojary and others have decided to continue protest in front of Khader’s office in Suvarna Vikasa Soudha in Belagavi from Monday, when the State Legislature session begins.

They also demanded minimum pay for 3,500 staff nurses working in different government hospitals in the state, and their appointment on permanent employment.

Although efforts were made to convince the protesters not to resort to dharna, they went ahead with the protest. As the minister was not in the city, he spoke to Poojary over the phone. As no clear assurance about the demand was forthcoming, the BJP MLAs decided to continue with their protest at Belagavi.

Speaking to press persons, Srinivas Poojary said that efforts to confirm the services of staff nurses had been made during the BJP regime, but the efforts were curtailed midway as Congress took over power in the state. He accused the government of not taking steps to confirm services of 3,500 staff nurses, and failing to pay them salary of Rs 17,500 per month.

Poojary claimed that 3,500 staff nurses including 21 in Udupi district have been working like bonded labourers in various hospitals in different districts, without the assured minimum pay. "We have been compelled to resort to this agitation, as our repeated demand to fix them minimum pay of Rs 17,500 was not met. Nurses play an important role in hospitals by providing care and services to patients during their stay in the hospitals. We demand that services of these nurses should be made permanent, and their pay should be hiked within a month from now, after getting the nod of the cabinet," he urged.

Former ministers, V Somanna, S Suresh Kumar, Ramachandre Gowda, MLA, Ravi Subrahmanya, MLCs, Tara, Anuradha, Y A Narayanaswamy, D S Veeraiah, and P V Krishna Bhat participated in the protest.

Khader responds

Khader, in a letter addressed to Kota Srinivas Poojary on Friday, said that he had contacted the latter immediately after it came to his notice that Srinivas Poojary had planned to hold dharna in front of his office, in pursuance of demands of staff nurses. "Even after I promised to hold one-to-one meeting with you to explain the ground realities, and to take every possible step to address the problem, you have stuck to your decision to go ahead with the dharna. I am sorry, I would not be unable to be in the city on account of pressure of programmes," he said in the letter, copies of which were released to the media.

"The nurses you are referring to had been appointed as junior health assistant in the year 2000 through Udupi district deputy commissioner. 28 of them were absorbed with Rs 3,300 pay scale. They were re-appointed to these posts in 2004, with a pay Rs 4,575 as per the fourth pay commission. Later, seven resigned, and 21 continued to work in government hospitals.

"When Karnataka was brought under National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in 2006, five out of 21 nurses started to draw pay of Rs 7,500. The other 16 refused to get linked to NHRM, as they felt that their services could be confirmed only if they continued under the state treasury budgetary allocations. They opted to continue to draw Rs 4,575 per month. Even after Congress government took over, these 16 nurses had not agreed to come under HRHM, although efforts to convince them to do so were made. Because of humanitarian concerns, norms were relaxed to fix them pay of Rs 10,000 under National Health Mission from July 1, 2015. 'You are demanding minimum pay for them. The minimum pay at present is Rs 5,280 but I want to draw your attention to the fact that we have fixed a pay of Rs 10,000 to them," the letter from Khader states.

The minister said that being a former minister, he hoped Poojary was aware of difficulties one comes across when taking decision for the state as a whole, and such decisions cannot be applied only to a few persons or a part of the state. He questioned if there were political reasons for Poojary to go ahead with the dharna. He asked Poojary to cogitate and retrospect as to whether the demand he is placing before the government is based on reality, whether it is practicable and feasible to meet this demand, and whether this protest is honest.