NEW DELHI: The nursing staffers, auxiliary nurses and midwives (ANMs), and data entry operators staging a dharna in front of Delhi secretariat on Wednesday said that they will go on hunger strike if their demands are not met. Many protesters had collapsed due to heat and were admitted to hospitals on the day.
According to Kajal Sharma, a nurse protesting outside the Delhi Secretariat along with other employees, the nurses are planning to go on hunger strike from tomorrow if their demands are not met. “Today the police personnel deployed at the gate of the secretariat tried to remove us and prevented us from standing under the tree shade. Some of the nurses were also taken out sick after standing in soaring temperatures and heat waves for long hours,” said Kajal.
“A couple of them had to be shifted to hospital after they became unconscious because of the heat,” Kajal said. The officials also closed the public loo outside the secretariat annex to prevent us from sitting on dharna, she said. According to Sumit Kumar, some of the employees also protested at Jantar Mantar.
The nursing staff, auxiliary nurses and midwives and data entry operators are sitting on the dharna in front of Delhi Secretariat since Tuesday and are demanding reinstatement of jobs, which as per a recent government order will be discontinued, even as the vaccination drive is on for 12-14 age-groups.