Govt speaking in two voices on interns stir: Ruhullah

Srinagar, Sep 6: Lok Sabha MP from Srinagar, Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, on Sunday came down heavily on the Jammu and Kashmir administration over its handling of the ongoing strike by medical interns, accusing it of resorting to “coercive tactics” even as it publicly acknowledged their demand for stipend revision as “genuine.”
In a series of letters to Health and Medical Education Minister Sakeena Itoo and Principals of Government Medical Colleges, Mehdi questioned the government’s “change in method” and sought to know whether the warnings issued to striking interns were on official instructions or individual initiative.
“Something has changed in the last few days, and I would like to know from you what it is. For a week this was a dispute conducted in the open. The interns stated their case, you accepted it as genuine, the Chief Minister’s Advisor gave a date. Now I am told that Principals of our medical colleges have begun warning interns of consequences if they do not return to duty. That is not a change in the Government’s position. It is a change in its method,” Mehdi wrote to Minister Itoo.
The MP warned that the government’s dual approach would not go unnoticed. “A government that has publicly called a demand genuine, and privately set its institutional heads to pressuring the people making it, is speaking in two voices. That will be noticed, and it will cost more than the stipend ever would,” he said.
In a separate communication to the Principals, Mehdi reminded them of their role as teachers first. “These are your own students. They came to you at eighteen, you have taught them for nine years, and they are now asking to be paid what interns are paid everywhere else in this country — a demand the Health Minister has called genuine, the Chief Minister has endorsed, and a committee of this Government recommended in 2023,” he wrote.
The strike by MBBS and BDS interns demanding a hike in monthly stipend from Rs 12,300 to Rs 30,000 entered its second week on this weekend, impacting routine services at major government hospitals across the Union Territory. The Health Minister has acknowledged the demand as “genuine” and a government committee had recommended an increase in 2023, but no formal order has been issued yet.
Mehdi urged the Minister to intervene immediately. “Whatever is being said to them in the corridors of these colleges should stop, and you are the one who can stop it,” he said, adding that the interns’ peaceful protest was their constitutional right and they did not forfeit it by wearing a white coat.
He also demanded a clear written order specifying the revised stipend amount and the date of effect, with an assurance that no intern would be penalised for having protested. “These young doctors have been given assurances before and watched them dissolve. That, and nothing else, is why they are still sitting outside,” he said.
The MP’s intervention comes amid growing political support for the agitating interns, with the PDP and Congress having already extended their backing. The interns have warned of intensifying their protest if a formal order on stipend revision is not issued soon. (KNS)