In a desperate bid to make their importance felt, around 6,000 employees of the Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society (MSACS) have
announced an indefinite strike across the state from Tuesday, to coincide with the World AIDS Day and week celebrations.
"We are sorry about this drastic step, however we have been forced into it. We have purposely chosen this time to make the authorities understand our role. We have been working with MSACS for 12 years on contract basis, but the state government has not regularised us. Secondly, MSACS being part of the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), we should be considered at par with Central government employees and given all the facilities that Central employees get like TA, DA etc. Repeated requests to the state authorities have fallen on deaf ears, hence this extreme step," said RB Mantri, a spokesperson of MSACS employees union from Buldhana, justifying the strike.
"There are 604 Integrated Counselling and Testing Centres (ICTCs) in the state. Each of them get at least 10 visitors daily, which means every day we are on strike around 6,000 people will go back unattended. Let the government realise this," he said.