No salaries for 8 months, Navale hospital staff resort to strike

Time of India

4 days ago

1
2
Pune: Non-teaching staffers at Smt Kashibai Navale Medical College and Hospital went on a strike on Tuesday in protest against what they claimed non-payment of salaries for the last eight months.
Most of the class 3 and 4 employees joined in, which severly affected the patient care. "The strike will continue till we get our salaries," said one of the nurses, who did not want to be named.
Dr Krishnakant Patil, dean, attributed the delay in payment to the recent action by the income tax department. "It suddenly sent us a notice and seized Rs47 crore. There will be new admissions of students in the upcoming academic year and the pending salaries will be paid from their fees," he said.
You Can Also Check:
Pune AQI
|
Weather in Pune
|
Bank Holidays in Pune
|
Public Holidays in Pune
The 650-bed hospital is managed by the Sinhgad Technical Education Society (STES) and comes under the purview of the charity commissioner. It is empanelled on state govt's Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Aarogya Yojana. There are about 1,500 non-teaching employees, including nurses, pharmacists, medical social workers, counsellors, technicians, outpatient department staff, multipurpose staff, brothers, aunts, ward boys, and security guards, who have allegedly not been paid since Dec 2024.
Dr Patil said as 40% of the staff are on duty, the crucial patient services continue as usual.
Repeated calls, messages, and emails to the hospital administration and MN Navale, president of STES, went unanswered till the time of going to press.
The protesting employees talked about the difficulties.
"Since the rent has been due for eight months, the landlord is threatening to throw us out. It is very embarrassing. We are yet to pay our children's school fees and have meanwhile borrowed money from relatives and private moneylenders to manage daily expenses.
If we ask for payment, the administration tells us to leave the job. We cannot continue to work without pay or even look for another, leaving behind our hard-earned money," a nurse said.
Another nurse, who has been at the hospital for more than 10 years, shared a similar story. "I earn Rs60,000 per month and have EMIs to pay. I have borrowed money from relatives for house rent and children's school fees," she said.
A ward boy said when they confronted administration officials over the pending salaries, they were threatened with dismissal.
"We do not have a medical plan, or savings to dig into. Even the bank does not give us a loan after we tell them that we work with Navale hospital."
The staff were further agitated by the college administration preferring to clear the pending salaries of the teaching staff. One of the clerks said, "A week ago, the college paid the salaries of about 250 professors, associate professors and assistant professors, which amounted to around Rs16-Rs17 crore. The class 4 staff live paycheck to paycheck and so the management should have cleared our dues first."
One of the senior professors said, "The administration recently cleared our dues for five months and now three months' pay is pending."