Maharashtra government pharmacists have called for an indefinite strike from 6 January 2022 to fulfill their demand of withdrawing the recent Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) advertisement for hiring around 12 pharmacists under Grade 2 cadre which is bypassing the job avenues of existing Grade 3 cadre pharmacists.
The pharmacists move is based on the pending approval from the Maharashtra Government’s General Administration Department (GAD) in 2016 to grant 50% reservation to the Grade 3 cadre state government pharmacists to enhance their promotional avenues on par with Grade 2 cadre pharmacists.
These pharmacists are attached with 18 government hospitals across Maharashtra which fall under Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER)
The agitation which would be led by the pharmacist of the JJ Group of Hospitals Pankaj Liladhar Yewale representing Grade 3 pharmacists of DMER have announced that if their demands are not met, they would start the protest and stop providing their services to the patients.
The protesting 50 pharmacists currently work under Grade 3 cadre of service provisions and have been asking for the past 5 years to upgrade them to Grade 2 cadre based on the state government approval.
The pharmacists in 2016 had proposed to the DMER based on their correspondences with the State Government’s GAD to grant 50% reservation for the Grade 3 pharmacists and the rest 50% pharmacists may be hired through MPSC. GAD agreed and approved the proposal following which the pharmacists approached the DMER the same year.
Based on the pharmacists requests, DMER, however, proposed the Medical Education and Drug Department (MEDD) to take up this matter recommending 25% reservation for the Grade 3 cadre pharmacists and the rest 75% pharmacists to be hired through MPSC.
Since then after consistent follow-ups on the festering issue, the state government pharmacists falling under Grade 3 cadre have been pressing their long pending demand with the DMER to upgrade their cadre based on the proposal approved by the state government and are awaiting a favourable response.
“The government pharmacists under Grade 3 cadre whose grievances related to promotional avenues have not been addressed till date therefore plan to launch a state –wide agitation if the MSPC advertisement towards hiring 12 government pharmacists is not withdrawn before January 6, 2022,” informed Yewale.
