“Amritsar is a hotspot. Maximum cases of Covid in Punjab are from that district. These technicians are needed for testing. The state government’s fight against the deadly virus will be hit if we start throwing people out at this juncture,” said Health Minister Balbeer Singh Sidhu.
A day after Punjab
Health Secretary Anurag Aggarwal ordered dismissal/termination of contract of
22 lab attendants posted at District Hospital, Amritsar, citing VIP culture,
Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu overruled the health secretary and put the
orders in abeyance on Saturday.
Sidhu confirmed toThe Indian Express that
the Health Secretary’s orders were “arbitrary”. “How can anyone dismiss 22 lab
technicians like this? It is not a joke to take away jobs like this. That too
at a time when the state is fighting Covid and there is so much of pressure on
the healthcare system."
Sidhu added, “Amritsar is a
hotspot. Maximum cases of Covid in Punjab are from that district. These
technicians are needed for testing. The state government’s fight against the
deadly virus will be hit if we start throwing people out at this juncture. We are
rather asking doctors and technicians to volunteer so that we do not have a
shortfall.”
The health minister also stated that Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had
promised jobs to the youth. “And we are throwing people out. That too with a
stroke of a pen. This is not done. Nobody even discussed it with me. How can we
say that the technicians were not following transfer orders? After all, there
is a system. This is a government which is running. Everything is documented
and on paper. The technicians cannot go to work at a place if they are not
posted there.”
Responding to Aggarwal’s
claim that there were only five sanctioned posts in the hospital and there were
27 technicians deployed, Sidhu said, “if there is a surplus, we should make
lists. Then we should decide what is to be done. We can take a call later. This
is no time to open these fronts when the state is fighting Covid.”
Aggarwal had ordered the
dismissal/termination of contract of 22 lab technicians saying they were
influential and whenever he ordered their transfer, it was not done. He had
called it VIP culture and had also stated that they were too influential that a
fair inquiry could not be conducted against them.
In his orders, he had
written: ”We have to come out of VIP culture. Since all the surplus lab
technicians are very influential, no fair inquiry can be held against them.
Therefore under Article 311(2) (b) of Constitution of India, they are dismissed
from the service and if some of them are on contract, their contracts are to be
terminated with immediate effect.”
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