PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun
Unemployed nursing graduates said that they will meet Health minister Subodh Uniyal to seek cancellation of the nursing recruitment examination scheduled on July 25 and 26. The statement came after the graduates staged a gherao of the Director General of Health on Tuesday.
The unemployed nursing graduates under the banner of Nursing Ekta Manch (NEM) have been protesting at Ekta Vihar over their long-standing demands for several days now. Their key demand is a transparent recruitment process that gives priority to candidates based on seniority after they complete their qualifying examinations, along with resolution of other related issues. Earlier, after no action was taken on their demands, the protesters escalated their agitation by climbing the water tank at Parade Ground. Following this, the Health DG forwarded their demands to the Health secretary. In response, the protesters suspended their agitation for a month.
However, with no action taken even after a month, the unemployed nursing graduates have recently resumed their protest. According to NEM president Naval Pundir, despite repeated assurances and long protests, the authorities have gone ahead and announced the exam dates.
“We went to the Health Minister’s residence on Monday and waited outside for a long time but could not meet him. Later, police officials took us and dropped us at the protest site,” Pundir said. On Tuesday, they staged a gherao of the Health DG’s office. “During the gherao, the DG contacted the Health minister on call in front of us. The Health minister informed the DG that he will meet the unemployed nursing graduates soon,” Pundir said.
Expressing concern over the continued delay, Pundir said that during the proposed meeting with the Health minister, they will urge for the cancellation of the examination scheduled for July 25 and 26. The graduates have warned that they will intensify their protest if their demands are not fulfilled soon.
