SRINAGAR: More than 3,000 non-gazetted employees of five newly established Government Medical Colleges (GMCs) in Jammu and Kashmir are set to begin an indefinite strike and sit-in protest from August 18 over the delay in framing and notifying Service Recruitment Rules for their cadres.
The employees will hold the main sit-in at GMC Baramulla, while similar protests will be organised at GMCs in Anantnag, Rajouri, Doda and Kathua, according to an intimation submitted by the employees to the administration.
The proposed agitation could affect routine hospital services, although the employees have said emergency services and emergency patient care will continue. Regular outpatient and inpatient services, including routine ward activities, may be affected during the protest.
The employees said the respective hospital administrations would make arrangements to maintain routine services, while the protesting staff would continue to cooperate in emergency patient care and maintain peace and discipline.
The employees said they were selected through the Jammu and Kashmir Services Selection Board during 2019-20 and were subsequently appointed by the competent authorities of the respective medical colleges.
They said Service Recruitment Rules governing their cadres and service conditions had still not been framed and notified despite several years of service.
According to the employees, the delay has left them without a defined statutory career structure and proper promotional avenues, resulting in professional stagnation and uncertainty.
They also said the absence of a clear promotional hierarchy had restricted the movement of senior employees to higher posts, contributing to vacancies at different levels and increasing the workload on existing staff.
The employees maintained that the issue was not limited to career progression, arguing that the absence of a defined cadre structure was also affecting manpower deployment and the functioning of the five newly established medical colleges.
They said they had earlier held a peaceful strike and sit-in several months ago but called off the agitation after receiving assurances from the administration and elected representatives that the matter would be resolved within a specified timeframe.
The employees said the promised resolution did not materialise despite the passage of additional time, leaving them with no option but to resume the agitation.
The proposed strike is scheduled to continue indefinitely from August 18, with emergency patient care to remain operational, according to the employees.
