ASHA workers protest for fixed pay promised by Congress Government

Congress government accused of failing to extend Rs 18,000 fixed pay, ESI, PF and retirement benefits promised before elections

KARIMNAGAR: ASHA workers staged a protest in front of the Collectorate office demanding that the State government provide Rs 18,000 fixed salary. As part of the State-wide agitation, ASHA workers from different parts of the district gathered at the Collectorate office and staged dharna under the aegis of CITU on Wednesday.
Speaking on the occasion, they informed that before elections, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy promised to provide Rs 18,000 fixed salary, ESI, PF and retirement benefits to ASHA workers if Congress was voted to power. However, none of them was fulfilled even after one year of the Congress assuming office, they alleged.
Instead of confining them to mother and child protection, officials were mounting pressure on them for monitoring/ implementation of a number of welfare schemes. Injustice has been done to ASHA workers as their services were utilized for various schemes without providing any benefits. It was not proper on the part of the State government to neglect ASHA workers who were playing a vital role in implementing government schemes, they said.
Stating that the State government was planning to suppress their agitation with police force, they made it clear that agitation, arrests and cases were not new for ASHA workers. Police arrested agitating ASHA workers and shifted them to a police training center.

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