SIRAHA, June 18: Health workers working under various local units of Siraha have expressed their disappointment toward the government for depriving them of their salaries and perks since five months.
As the Ministry of Finance is yet to release their salaries, staffers of various health organizations are having a hard time managing their family expenses.
Health workers of Mirchaiya Municipality staged a sit-in on the premises of the municipal office for three days starting from Tuesday. Despite doing so, they failed to grab the attention of the responsible authorities. As their absence affected the service at the health organizations, they resumed their work from Friday after submitting a memorandum to the mayor.
Health workers deprived of salaries for months, preparing for p...
Ramesh Kumar Yadav, one of the health workers of Mirchaiya, said, "Before the implementation of federalism, we didn't have to wait this long for our salaries and perks. It was always on time."
According to another health worker Pradip Pokharel, getting salaries has been difficult for them since the formation of the federal government.
The morale of health workers has been decreasing day by day, according to Niranjan Shakya, chief of Golbazar Health Post. "It's not just one or two months but five months that we have not received our salaries," said Shakya.
According to Dorik Kamaut, coordinator of Nawarajpur Rural Municipality, as many as 23 health workers of his local unit have been deprived of their salaries since five months.
After the health staffers were brought under the local units, the finance ministry had reportedly disbursed their salaries to their respective local units. Unfortunately, the budget meant for their salaries was not enough. Though the responsible authorities had time and again informed the ministry about the insufficient budget, nothing has been done.
The salaries, uniform allowance and field expenses of 23 staffers of Nawarajpur Rural Municipality amounts to Rs 8.4 million. But the ministry had released just Rs 3 million.
Earlier, the health workers were deprived of salaries for seven months but after putting much pressure on the local unit, they were provided with two months' salary just three days ago, informed health coordinator Kamaut.
Meanwhile, the annual budget required for 73 staffers of Lahan Municipality is Rs 30.3 million but the ministry has provided only Rs 7.5 million. This is the reason why the staffers here are deprived of their salaries since two months.
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