Guwahati: The employees of the 108 and 102 ambulance services and emergency response office, who were on strike from September 5, have decided to resume their duties from Wednesday morning following assurance of a hearing into their demands on Friday by health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

The strike may be resumed if the authorities fail to address the employees' grievances and non-payment of their increment.

More than 3,000 employees are on strike from September 5 to protest the non-implementation of service rules by the company, non-payment of pending annual increment dues for the past two years and abnormal hours of work.

All ambulances operated by GVK EMRI under 108 and 102 call services have come to a grinding haltx, severely inconveniencing the people who require their services. People are being forced to use private cars, cabs or private ambulances to bring patients to hospitals.

The health minister had earlier adopted a hands-off policy, citing the strike to be a matter between the employees and their employer - GVK EMRI, the Hyderabad-based company that has been operating the 108 and 102 ambulance services in contract with the National Health Mission.

Sarma had declined to hold talks with them earlier. He had come under fire from the Opposition Congress leaders for his stance.

Sarma has agreed to discuss the matter with the protesters on Friday after the intervention of Lahoal MLA Rituparna Baruah, sources said.

A GVK company source, however, said the resumption of services by the ambulance staff is only partial. The employees will not be furnishing details of the cases covered by them during the course of the day or the amount of fuel put into the tanks and the amount used up. "By not providing the details of the cases, we will be kept in the dark," the source said.