Srinagar: Dozens of paramedical staff terminated by the Jammu and Kashmir government recently amid the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, saw a support from an unexpected quarter-Congress MP from Kerala, Shashi Tharoor on Wednesday.
The paramedics, 250 of them precisely, who were hired by the Health and Medical Education Department at the five newly opened medical colleges in J&K last year, were terminated by the department in the midst of the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown after a permanent staff was appointed in their place.
The terminated staffers have called the move “illegal” as they were not served any prior notice or paid one month’s advance salary as warranted by the SRO 24 under which they were appointed last year.
Tharoor, who said, he received an SOS from the aggrieved nurses, took to Twitter on Wednesday saying the paramedics had been “arbitrarily terminated”.
“How can frontline warriors against the deadly virus be fired at the very time when they are needed most?” he questioned.
He asked the J&K government to look into the matter.
J&K government’s official spokesperson, Rohit Kansal, who replied to Tharoor’s tweet saying he will have the concerned authorities to look into the issue.

Irshad Khan