CITU intensifies action against 'Hire and Fire policy' of IGMC Shimla, protest against sacking of 200 Covid warriors

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) [India], October 18 (ANI): Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) on Wednesday intensified its action against the 'Hire and Fire policy' of Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (IGMC), Shimla that sacked 200 Covid warrior and 24 security personnel.
They held a silent demonstration outside IGMC Shimla after two hundred outsourced cleaning staff, ward attendants, nursing, data entry operators, Covid personnel and 24 security personnel of IGMC were expelled from their jobs on Thursday.
Along with hundreds of labourers, Renu Thakur, who was fired from her job along with her two-month-old newborn baby, and her husband Surendra Thakur, who had undergone three operations in the last month, also participated in the protest.
During this period, IGMC employees stopped working. The union has warned that if the fired security personnel and Covid workers do not get justice, the movement will intensify.
CITU State President Vijendra Mehra and District Treasurer Balak Ram said, "Throwing out two hundred Covid warriors from IGMC is an incident of shame to humanity. Firing 24 security personnel is a strangulation of the law of the country."
He said that there is a huge scam in the contracts given to security guards and to take action on this, a letter will be written to the President, Prime Minister, Governor and Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh demanding an investigation.
CITU President also blamed IGMC management and Rainbow Security Agency for a scam.
"Legal action will be taken against the officials involved in this scam. On the basis of 70 marks in Technical Bid Evaluation, the Secure Guard Company was not even eligible to apply for the contract as it has zero marks out of 70. It was mandatory for the contract to file an income tax return every year from the year 2019, but the company was formed in September 2020, how did it pay the income tax for the year 2019? According to the terms of the contract, it was mandatory for the company to have work experience of more than 100 and a total of 300 security personnel in one place in the five years from 2017 to 2022, but the work experience of the company is not even three years. The company was not even eligible to participate in the bidding process," he said.
He further added that this scam would be exposed in public and the door of the High Court would be approached against it. He has called intensifying the movement against the contract scam.
Himachal Pradesh Outsourced Employees Union State President Virendra Lal, Security Personnel Union President Devraj Bablu, Sanitation Workers Union President Nisha and General Secretary Sarina said that the black laws of the British era are still continuing in IGMC.
"The 'Hire and Fire policy' continues here and by flouting the law, 200 Covid workers and 24 security personnel have been thrown out of their jobs."
They said that the decision to fire the workers was illegal. It should be withdrawn immediately.
"Security personnel and Covid workers are being mentally tortured in IGMC. They are being fired from the job after the contractor is changed, which is a clear violation of the agreement made by the IGMC management with the union and Section 25H of the Industrial Disputes Act. IGMC management, along with the new contractor, is openly disregarding labour laws," they said. (ANI)