Permanent status: Govt regularises 1,537 health dept employees

GILGIT:

The Gilgit-Baltistan government regularised the services of more than 1,537 contract employees in the health department.

According to a notification issued by the government on Tuesday, these include accountants, drivers and lady health supervisors working in various projects run by the health department.

The employees made permanent include 1,385 lady health visitors (LHVs) who had earlier boycotted a polio vaccination drive in the region. The regularisation will be effective from July 1, 2013, read the notification.

However, the fate of 183 contract teachers sacked earlier still hangs in the balance. Earlier, the teachers had protested against the decision to terminate their services.

A delegation of these contract teachers met Chief Minister Mehdi Shah on Wednesday to convey their grievances over the issue.  Shah, however, expressed his inability to intervene, given that it is the chief secretary who is handling the issue. “I was in favour of regularisation but the case is with the chief secretary who represents the federal government,” Shah told the delegation.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th,2013.