Anganwadi Workers' Grievances Not Being Heeded to: Official

THANE: More than two lakh Anganwadi workers in Maharashtra are agitating to press for their demands including increasing their wages, since the government is yet to address their grievances, an Anganwadis' union official said today.

"The workers of one lakh Anganwadis across the state began their agitation on January 20 against the faulty decisions of both the Central and the state government, that have adversely affected the functioning of Anganwadis," Maharashtra Rajya Anganwadi Karmachari Sangh president M A Patil said.

He said the government did a "grave" mistake by bringing down the budgetary provisions under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme from the earlier Rs 18,000 crore to Rs 8,000 crore.

"As a result, the salary of Rs 5,000 being paid to the workers and Rs 2,500 to the assistants is very less. Even that is not paid regularly. Sometimes the workers are not paid salaries for months altogether," he said.

The rent for Anganwadi centres is also paid irregularly, leading to harassment of the workers and students by landlords, he further said.

He said the government wants them to provide nutritious food to the students, but does not provide them the required facilities.

"The students coming to the Anganwadis are only being given food and escorted back to their homes, he said, adding no teaching work is being carried out for many days now," he said.