The protesting National Health Mission (NHM) employees and community health officers (CHOs) on Tuesday intensified their agitation after the Punjab government postponed the June 30 meeting that was proposed to address their demands. The agitation led to the disruption of health services across Ludhiana.The protesters outside the civil surgeon’s office in Ludhiana on Tuesday. (Manish/HT)The protestors announced that they would join a state-level protest outside chief minister(CM) Bhagwant Mann’s residence in Sangrur on July 2 if their demands remain unresolved.With negotiations failing to take off, NHM employees and CHOs continued their protest outside the civil surgeon’s office in Ludhiana and submitted a memorandum to local Aam Aadmi Party legislators, urging the Punjab government to immediately address their long-pending demands.The employees said their statewide work boycott, which began on June 22, would continue until the government issues a concrete written commitment on their demands.The fresh escalation comes after a meeting held in Ludhiana on June 27 between CHO union representatives and Punjab health and family welfare chief secretary Kumar Rahul. During the meeting, union leaders raised issues including implementation of ‘Equal Work Equal Pay’ for NHM employees, withdrawal of the revised incentive performance format, restoration of the loyalty bonus discontinued since 2018, salary parity with CHOs in other states, creation of a regular cadre, and removal of restrictions on private practice for BAMS (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery)-qualified CHOs.According to the union, the chief secretary had assured them that a panel meeting would be held in Chandigarh on June 30 to discuss the demands in detail and work towards a resolution. However, the meeting was postponed, prompting employees to accuse the health department of once again backing out of its assurances.Union leaders said this was not the first time promised talks had failed to materialise, alleging that several meetings held over the past four years had ended without any concrete outcome.Dr Sunil Targotra, president of the community health officers’ association, Punjab, said, “We have repeatedly been given assurances over the past several years, but none of our core demands has been addressed. The agitation will continue until the government gives us a written commitment along with a time-bound roadmap for implementation,” he said.Employees said protests continued on Tuesday at civil surgeon’s offices across Punjab, where memorandums were submitted to local member of legislative assembly (MLAs) seeking intervention from the chief minister.