Maharashtra: Resident doctors not to go ahead with strike after meeting with deputy CM Ajit Pawar

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The Maharashtra Association of Resident Doctors (MARD) on Wednesday decided not to go ahead with their strike after a meeting with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who agreed to their demands, reported the PTI.

According to the PTI, the MARD, which represents resident doctors in government colleges in the state, had given a call for a strike from Wednesday evening over their pending demands.

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MARD representatives had a meeting with Medical Education Minister Hasan Mushrif, Pawar and officials of the Medical Education and Drugs Department, as per the PTI.

According to MARD, the state government has agreed to immediately hike the stipend to resident doctors by Rs 10,000, the news agency reported.

The doctors' body had also demanded immediate regularisation in stipend payment with release of pending stipends and arrears of all resident doctors in the state.

The Maharashtra government has also agreed to release the monthly payment of stipend henceforth and directed the finance department to release the exact amount of requested funds every month, the MARD said.

The resident doctors had also demanded immediate grant of necessary funds and fast-tracking of all the PWD (public welfare department) work across the state to ensure completion of repairs of existing hostels and initiation of construction of new hostel premises.

MARD had also demanded that arrangements be made to lease out buildings as a temporary substitute for hostels until new infrastructure is built.

Meanwhile, Ajit Pawar on Tuesday said that he 'accepts with humility' the Election Commission's ruling to declare his faction as the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), reported the PTI.

The NCP leader's reaction came shortly after the poll panel announced that the Ajit Pawar faction is the real NCP.

The Election Commission's ruling ended months of speculation over the factional fight between Ajit Pawar and party founder and his uncle Sharad Pawar.

The Election Commission also allotted the NCP symbol 'wall clock' to the group led by Ajit Pawar.

The decision followed the laid-out tests of maintainability of such a petition which included tests of aims and objectives of party constitution, test of party constitution and tests of majority both organisational and legislative, the commission said.

"The test of majority in the legislative wing found favour in this circumstance of the case, where both groups have found to be working outside the party constitution and the organisational elections," the poll authority observed.

The Election Commission has officially recognized Ajit Pawar's faction as the real NCP, citing a "test of legislative majority" as a determining factor in the decision. This move comes after disputed internal organisational elections within the NCP.

(with PTI inputs)