102, 108 ambulance staff threaten to disrupt services in UP from Monday

Employees of the 102 and 108 ambulance alleged on Sunday (June 28) that the company operating the services is duping the Uttar Pradesh government by raising fake bills and threatened to disrupt the services from Monday (June 29).

They demanded a CBI probe into their allegation and claimed that their salaries are also pending.

Hanuman Pandey, a senior office-bearer of the drivers association of the ambulance services, said, “On paper there are around 19,200 workers, but in reality, there are hardly 16,000. Fake bills are being raised in the name of the remaining 3,000 people. We urge the government to order a CBI probe into it. If our demand is not met, we will bring the ambulance services to a halt across the state from Monday.”

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Pandey also said, “There was an arbitrary salary cut and as many as 1,600 workers were shown the exit door by the company on Saturday.”

Rebutting Pandey’s claims, Sunil Yadav, spokesperson of the GVK-EMRI, the company that runs the ambulance services, said, “There is no case of embezzlement of funds. Some external elements are trying to derail the ambulance service in this difficult hour of COVID-19 crisis. As far as the list of 1,600 employees is concerned, it is a list of those not coming to duty without informing the company or missing from duty for a long time. They have not been shown the exit door.”

Yadav said such lists are prepared every three-four months. “This is a routine process. Only a few workers leaders of the ambulance service are trying to raise this issue,” he said.