Police on Monday used batons to disperse employees of the National Health Mission (NHM) here demanding higher wages and permanent jobs.

Dozens of employees from the Kashmir Valley gathered on the Residency Road in uptown Srinagar shouting slogans.

After they tried to block traffic, police used batons to disperse them. The employees said five of their colleagues were injured in the police action.

Representatives of the employees said despite repeated assurances, neither their services had been regularized nor their monthly emoluments increased.

The NHM employees work in hospitals as doctors and paramedics on fixed emoluments in Jammu and Kashmir.