Just days before Diwali, over 100 contractual employees, under the banner of Maharashtra Data Entry Operators and Health Workers Association, have launched a demonstration at Azad Maidan to protest abrupt termination notices and demand direct hiring under the National Health Mission. Over 4,500 graduates and postgraduates, aged between 25 and 30 years, have been protesting across Maharashtra since October 31. With their pleas unheard, over 100 moved their protest to Mumbai. If a solution from the state government is not forthcoming, the employees will approach the Bombay High Court.

“Data entry operators and health workers across the state are being terminated from November 20 without prior intimation. New recruitments are being made to replace the existing workforce of 4,700. These employees have been working for the past one to two years,” said Advocate Bharat Phulare, state president of the association. Phulare hails from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (erstwhile Aurangabad) and has joined the agitators at Azad Maidan.