Employees of GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI) in Meghalaya have decided to withdraw their indefinite strike.
The GVK EMRI employees’ decision came following assurance of the state government to form a special committee to address all their demands.
The employees, mostly field staff members under the banner of Meghalaya EMRI Workers Union (MEWU) took the decision after a meeting with health minister AL Hek.
The meeting was held in the State Secretariat on Monday evening.
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Officials of the health department, representatives of GVK EMRI and representatives of the union were also present in the meeting.
The employees began their strike on Friday last in protest against the adamant attitude of the health department and the management’s failure to address their grievances.
The employees asked the government and the GVK management to improve ambulance services in the state, stop punishing the employees by transferring them forcefully to other locations for raising their voice against the management.
They also demanded that the emergency service be taken over by the government since the state government is providing cent per cent fund to the GVK EMRI.
Speaking to reporters, president of the union, Roipar Kharraswai said they decided to call off the strike since the health minister had assured to constitute one special committee to look into their demands and resolve the same.
The committee will be headed by state health secretary Pravin Bakshi and members of the committee including officials from the labour and transport departments, three officials of the GVK management and four representatives from the union.
Health minister A.L Hek said the government would try to resolve issues raised by the union at the earliest and that a committee was constituted to look and address their various demands.
The first meeting of the committee will be held on July 25.
“At this juncture, a status quo should be maintained by both parties. The employees of GVK have to call off their strike while working to resolve their issues, and the management of GVK has to also call off show cause notice, termination letter, transfer order that were served to the employees. Both sides have agreed to maintain the status quo,” Hek said.