VIJAYAWADA: Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers and community health workers from across the State staged a massive protest at Lenin Centre in the city on Monday, demanding that the government clear their dues, pay them Rs 10,000 per month as promised by the Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy and do away with the new grading system.
“Before the elections, Jagan promised to increase our pay to Rs 10,000 per month. Although he announced the hike with grandeur, after becoming the Chief Minister, he applied conditions on it silently and came up with the grading system. Owing to this system, we are not getting the amount that we were promised before. We have come out on the streets so that the State pays us our dues and scraps this grading system,” K Dhana Lakshmi, AP ASHA workers’ union secretary told TNIE.
She said that there were dues pending from January this year. “Across the State, there are over 45,000 ASHA workers. If the government does not take any favourable steps, then we will intensify our protests in the future,” she added.
The government introduced grading system in August under which the workers are divided into A, B and C categories, depending on the kind of services that they provide. As per the category a worker fall into, the payment will be done after being reviewed by the district officials.
In response to the agitation, State government began the process to clear dues of the ASHA workers.
Speaking to TNIE, National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) State programme manager I Ramesh said, “We had a meeting and discussed the pending dues of ASHA workers. We are writing to the district officials to make sure that all the staff receive their payment on time. They have been asked to submit the bills to us.”