A group of women employees working for the emergency helpline, Dial 112, held a protest outside the helpline's main office in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. They were calling for higher wages and job stability.
These outsourced workers were hoping to meet with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, claiming that their requests had been ignored, and their salaries hadn't seen an increase for the last seven years.
The police also detained several women on Tuesday who were participating in the protest and transported them away in police vehicles.
Harshita, an emergency helpline employee who took part in the protest told PTI, "We are demanding that our salary be hiked to Rs 18,000 from the current Rs 11, 800 on which we are providing services for the past 7 years."
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She alleged they have been protesting for over 24 hours and no one has come to hear their grievances.
"Our vendor has changed this time and we have also not been given new offer letters. Now new appointments are being made which are unfair," another protester said.
What did the leaders say?
UP minister Jaiveer Singh, when asked about the issue, said that the demands of the outsourced employees will be looked into and due action will be taken. "We will take action on justified issues. They are our employees. It is our duty to take care of them,” Singh said.
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Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, in whose regime Dial-100 was launched, has attacked the Yogi Adityanath government on the issue.
“Now, it is being heard that the contract of 'Dial 100' is also being given to a ‘friend’ just like those of port, airport and railways,” he said. “Those who talk about giving reservations to women are taking them into custody. Have those who do change in names, changed the name of 'Reservation' to 'Hirasat'?" Yadav said while commenting on the detention of the protesting women.
The SP chief also posted a video in which policemen were seen dragging the women to police vehicles.
In another post, Yadav shared a letter of the protesting women addressed to him.
"This is not only the "pidah patra' (letter written with pain) of one 'Samvad Adhikari', but from all of them. Even before meeting the chief minister, these sisters, who sat in dharna in the cold night, were taken into custody in the morning. The true form of BJP's 'Nari Vandan' is 'Nari Bandhan'. Shameful, condemnable, unbearable."
In the letter, the outsourced employees alleged that they were being removed from the job without a notice period and demanded an in-hand salary of Rs 18,000 and job security among others.
