VISAKHAPATNAM: Asha workers in the district are yet to receive their salaries for the past six months. A group of Asha workers visited Spandana grievance cell on Monday to submit a representation to District Collector V Vinay Chand. Also, Andhra Pradesh Asha Workers’ Union threatened to stage a State-wide protest on July 15 if the issue is not resolved by the State government.
It may be noted Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy during his padayatra had promised that salaries of the Asha workers would be increased to Rs 10,000. But they are yet to get clarity whether Rs 10,000 would include incentives or not. Forget the new salary, around 4,500 Asha workers are yet to get the current monthly salary of Rs 3,000 each and another Rs 3,000 each as incentive, due from January.
The problems of Asha workers did not come to an end after the YSRC government assumed power. New issues kept cropping up almost daily. “This is not a new thing for us. We struggle to get our salaries. This has been the problem even during the former TDP government regime. The workers staged protests for salary hike, but the issue now is payment of pending salaries. We were promised Rs 10,000 salary which is a big jump, but we are still struggling to get salaries for the past six months. During the Chief Minister’s visit to Vizag in June, we submitted a representation and he promised to release the salaries immediately. Now it is July and we are yet to get our salaries,” said Bharathi, an Asha worker from Vizag.
Asha workers are roped in for every field work for 20 days to 25 days in a month and during the monsoon season. They conduct awareness camps on prevention of vector-borne diseases.
“Coming from economically poor background, we continue to work without getting our salaries; we fear losing our jobs. For many of us, salary is the major source of income. Our families are not even eligible for the social welfare schemes,” rue the Asha workers.