Just 3,000 Asha workers get incentives

Less than seven per cent of over 40,000 Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) have received the financial incentive that Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa announced a week ago.
ASHA workers, who are on the frontline in the fight against Covid-19, go on their daily rounds in Belagavi | ASHISHKRISHNA HP
ASHA workers, who are on the frontline in the fight against Covid-19, go on their daily rounds in Belagavi | ASHISHKRISHNA HP

BENGALURU: Less than seven per cent of over 40,000 Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) have received the financial incentive that Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa announced a week ago. The state government had announced Rs 3,000 as incentives to ASHA workers to honour their efforts in tackling Covid-19, as a part of the relief package formulated to mitigate the economic damage inflicted by the pandemic. So far, only about 3,110 have received the money.

The cooperation department, which is in charge of disbursing the incentives, has said it will ensure that the remaining 38,061 ASHA workers receive the money in a week. “Incentives of Rs 92,36,000 have been disbursed to 3,110 ASHA workers so far via various organisations under the cooperation department. In the next one week, we will disburse incentives to all ASHA workers,” said S T Somashekhar, cooperation minister.

On Wednesday, the CM handed out cheques to select ASHA workers in appreciation of their work. Government records as on April 25 show that the sanctioned strength for ASHA workers in rural Karnataka is 39,193, with 38,679 posts filled and 530 vacancies. In urban areas, the sanctioned strength is 3,331 but there are 3,032 workers on the ground while 299 posts are vacant. Total sanctioned strength for ASHA workers across the state is 42,524 but only 41,711 ASHA workers are rendering services.

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