Ranchi, April 24: Over a thousand sales representatives remained on strike today as part of the nation-wide protest to press for their long pending demands.

Over 1,400 sales representatives and field workers across the state joined the strike to press for gazette notification declaring the health promotion work as an industry.

The sales representatives stayed on a daylong dharna at Albert Ekka Chowk.

“The decision had already been taken but it has not been put into action because it was yet to be notified in the gazette,” said Anirban Bose, the secretary of Bihar-Jharkhand Sales Representatives’ Union.

Bose further added: “The minimum wages, as notified by the state government, are being implemented strictly and the sales representatives, too, should be included in that. There are many small and medium local pharmaceutical companies that do not even pay the minimum wages to field workers.”

“Promotional work was totally paralysed today because even the non-member sales representatives abstained from work,” Bose said.

The medical representatives have also been protesting against the rise in drug prices. This is because the government has decided to charge excise duty on the maximum retail price, which now has to be borne by the consumer.

Earlier, manufacturers had to pay the duty on the cost of production. This had led to pharma companies charging high prices thus creating a price disparity between similar products.