Cuttack: Contractual workers of Acharya Harihar Post Graduate Institute of Cancer in Cuttack demonstrated during the visit of Odisha Health Minister Niranjan Pujari demanding regularisation of their jobs Thursday, a source said.
According to the source, Pujari visited the cancer institute to attend its general body meeting. While Pujari was attending the meeting, the contractual workers of the hospital staged a protest on the hospital premises.
Later, Pujari was gheraoed by the workers for a brief while. The workers demanded that the minister must fulfil their demand for job regularisation.
Afterwards, police and security officials escorted the minister out of the hospital.
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One of the agitators said that the Odisha government had announced job regularisation for all the contractual workers. However, the paramedical staff and nursing assistants of the hospital are still working on contractual basis.
Another worker stated that they had put forward their demand multiple times before the Director of the hospital. However, nobody paid heed to their demands. That led them to stage protest during the minister’s visit.
PNN