GUWAHATI: As many as 380 employees of the Mrityunjoy 108 ambulance service and 316 employees of the 102 ambulance service have gone on an indefinite strike since the midnight of September 4, badly hitting ambulance services in the state.They have gone on strike as their long-standing demands - for release of increment that has been stopped since 2016 and reduction of working hours from 12 hours to 7 hours - have not been met by the GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI). On Thursday, GVK started a recruitment drive after the ambulance service staff did not call off their stir."The demands of the employees are under consideration. They received privilege leave encashment, along with their salary last month. As regards their demand for increment that they have not received since 2016, the management has decided to pay them the arrears for July, August and September along with the September salary, but they want it immediately and have gone on strike, affecting the ambulance service," said a senior GVK EMR official.Pranjal Sarma, general secretary of the All Assam Mrityunjoy 108 Employees' Association, said, "Although arrears of 19 months is due on us, the management has agreed to pay arrears of only three months along with September's salary. They have flatly refused to pay the rest of the months' arrears. Moreover, the labour commissioner had in January this year directed the management in writing that the number of working hours should be as per the Motor Vehicles Act, which accounts to 8 hours. However, this is yet to be implemented."

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