Over 17,000 National Health Mission contract employees receive overdue salaries

After a day of anticipation, all 17,000 contract workers across the State finally received their salaries

Over 17,000 contract employees under the National Health Mission (NHM) in Telangana breathed a sigh of relief as they received two months’ worth of overdue salaries on March 20 out of the pending four months.

The NHM workers had been grappling with salary delays for the past four months, prompting them to prepare for a strike scheduled for Friday if the government failed to address their payment grievances.

Following The Hindu’s report on March 18 highlighting the issue, R.V. Karnan, Commissioner of Health and Family Welfare and Mission Director of Telangana’s NHM, engaged with representatives from the NHM Contract and Outsourcing Employees Union. He provided assurances that the outstanding salaries would be settled by March 20.

Subsequently, on March 19, the union received confirmation from the commissioner’s office indicating that two months’ salaries would be disbursed before March 21, with the remaining two months slated for payment in the upcoming month.

After a day of anticipation, all 17,000 contract workers across the State finally received their salaries on Wednesday. “For the time being, we’ve called off the strike and will await the pending payment next month,” stated Rama Rajesh Khanna, General Secretary of the union.