PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
The unemployed nursing graduates, under the banner of the Nursing Ekta Manch (NEM), postponed their planned Samuhik Mundan (mass shaving) protest after receiving assurances from senior Health officials. These graduates have been agitating for their longstanding demands, including a transparent recruitment process that favours the candidates according to their year-wise seniority on completing their qualifying examinations. To press their demands, they marched towards the chief minister’s residence.
The president of NEM, Naval Pundir stated that the unemployed nursing graduates had been protesting for a long time without seeing any tangible action towards redressing their grievances. “Consequently, we organised a march to the CM residence on Monday. Under the same stir, we planned a mass shaving protest the same day,” he said.
Notably, while marching towards the CM residence, the protesters encountered police barricades in Hathibarkala. “Following this, some NEM representatives were taken to the Health Directorate for discussion with the senior officials,” he said.
Pundir further said that during the talks, the senior Health officials had acknowledged the efficacy of their demands and assured them of positive actions concerning all issues related to nursing recruitment. “They assured us that appropriate decisions would be taken in the best interests of junior nursing candidates, keeping their future in mind,” he added.
The senior Health officials are said to have asked the NEM representatives to bring important points and necessary documents to the departmental office to expedite the process.
“Satisfied with the outcome of the talks, we have decided to postpone the proposed mass shaving agitation for a few days. However, we will proceed with the mass shaving stir if we do not receive concrete, written assurances next week,” he said.
Importantly, despite the dialogue and its positive outcome, the protesters will continue their sit-in at Ekta Vihar.
