Public Health Lab Staff in Madhes Province Protest Unpaid Salaries

Dhanusha. Employees of public health laboratories working in all 136 local levels of Madhes Province have started protests, citing non-receipt of salaries and other service facilities for the past seven months.

The affected employees have staged a sit-in and rally in front of the Provincial Public Health Laboratory office in Janakpurdham to address their demands. According to the laboratory staff, salary and festival allowances from Kartik of the fiscal year 2082/83 to the present have not been provided. Anil Mahato, a laboratory worker, stated that they have been forced to take to the streets as the contract extension and renewal process for the employees has not been finalized even as the current fiscal year is about to end.

Sahid Rain, coordinator of the Joint Struggle Committee, complained that despite repeatedly informing the relevant bodies about their problems in writing and verbally, there has been no hearing.

The protesting employees have drawn the attention of the Ministry of Health and Population, Ministry of Labor and Transport, Ministry of Finance and Planning, and the Provincial Public Health Laboratory of Madhes Province, urging them to fulfill their demands immediately. They are demanding the payment of withheld salaries, renewal of service contracts, and provision of uniform allowance, risk allowance, and dearness allowance. The laboratory staff have also warned of intensifying and strengthening the protest if their demands are not met immediately.