BENGALURU: Ahead of the winter session in Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi from December 8, ASHA workers from across Karnataka are planning a ‘Bruhat Belagavi Chalo’ on December 10 in Belagavi.
Leader of ASHA Workers’ Union Nagalakshmi said that there are 42,000 ASHA workers working in the state health department.
“The salary paid to them is Rs 8,000-9,000 and there is no fixed salary. While the State Government pays Rs 5,000, the Union Government pays
Rs 3,000-4000,” she said, adding that there is no fixed payment from the Centre as they pay ASHA workers based on their performance.
“However, they are assigned 34 different jobs in the health department. This is why we protested in January 2025 in Bengaluru continuously for four days. On the fifth day, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah promised to pay us Rs 1,000 extra making it to a total amount of Rs 10,000. However, it has been 11 months and we have not received any increment in the salary,” she added.
Nagalakshmi also highlighted that the State Government boasts of being the first state in the country to implement software systems introduced by the Centre like ASHA Soft, SPARSH and others.
“There is a shortage of staff in the health department to enter this data in the software. Due to lack of entry of proper job completion data in these software, every month, we receive Rs 500 to 1,000 less from the Centre. A few months ago, the State Government implemented the Centre’s SPARSH software due to which we haven’t received salaries for nearly three months from the centre,” she added.