BY TC News Desk
Agartala, 26th July 2024: As many as 29 contractual workers lost their jobs after the Department of Geriatric Medicine under GB Pant Hospital was reportedly shut down four years after its inauguration by the then Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb.
The department, which was inaugurated with a grand ceremony in 2020, was closed in March.
The Department of Geriatric Medicine catered to people above 60 years old and was staffed by doctors, nurses, lab technicians, physiotherapy staff, and GD staff. All the workers were engaged on a contractual basis since 2020, working 24 hours a day on fixed wages.
Speaking with reporters, one worker said that in the last week of March, the government handed over a paper informing them that the agreement with the central government had ended.
“We were told that we would not be able to work from April. We tried many times to meet with the current Chief Minister, Dr. Manik Saha, and Health Department Secretary, Kiran Gitte, but we were never given the chance,” said one worker who lost their job.
The workers said that they facing severe financial crisis as all of a sudden without any prior notice they lost their job and sough CM Dr Saha’s interventions in this regard.
When they went to GB Hospital and found their old workplace locked.
The dismayed workers said that this department, which was opened for the benefit of senior citizens with the governor’s permission, has now been closed, leaving them jobless and roaming the streets.
