THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Thousands of ASHA workers from across the state gathered in front of the Secretariat on Thursday for ‘Maha Sangamam’. The workers are demanding an increase in their monthly honorarium from Rs 7,000 to Rs 21,000, along with retirement benefits and the clearance of pending payments. Protesters expressed anger at the government’s decision to hike the salaries of PSC members and grant travel allowances to Delhi’s special representative K V Thomas while ignoring their long-pending demands.
Political analyst Joseph C Mathew inaugurated the protest and said that people with a conscience in the state stand with the ASHA workers. He pointed out that ASHA workers played a major role during the Wayanad floods and the Covid-19 pandemic, yet were left with nothing more than words of gratitude.
“While the Health Minister collected awards for the state’s pandemic response, ASHA workers were overlooked. Freezing orders and shelving decisions for future governments to ignore is unfair. These women didn’t gather here on a whim, they came because raising their voices is the only way to secure their rights,” said Joseph.
ASHA workers allege that while the government claims a financial crunch, it finds funds for high-ranking officials. “We are being pushed to the edge. Is it only protests led by certain unions that get attention? The finance minister says there’s no money, yet lakhs were distributed as salaries just yesterday,” the protesters said.
MLA Anoop Jacob urged the government to meet the ASHA workers’ demands and adjust their pay according to inflation. He criticised the state’s approach as dismissive and said that the budget has brought nothing but disappointment for frontline workers like ASHAs, MGNREGA labourers and Anganwadi staff.