Sunday, June 21, 2020

Punjab: Health minister overrules health secretary, puts dismissal of lab technicians in abeyance

Balbir Singh Sidhu, Anurag Aggarwal, lab technicians, Amritsar news, Punjab news, Indian express news
“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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