Braving the rain with umbrellas, Anganwadi workers staged an agitation in front of the Department of Women and Children on Monday, demanding their salaries and honorarium, which they have not received for the past two months.
A total of 1,336 workers were employed in 788 anganwadis in the Union Territory. While 610 are working in the capacity of multi-purpose workers with a salary of `15,000 to `18,000 per month, 526 are employed as helpers with a salary of `14 ,000 to `16,000. The remaining 200 are serving on a honorarium of `3000 per month. However, they had not received their salaries for March and April.
Salaries of the anganwadi Workers are paid by the Pondicherry Corporation for the Development of Women and Differently-abled Persons after receiving grant-in-aid from the Department of Women and Children.
The salary, which has a financial implication of around `2.70 Cr per month, is yet to be provided as grant in aid and it has not been released to the Corporation. “Due to administrative reasons, there has been a delay in providing the grant-in-aid. After the passage on vote-on-account in the Legislative Assembly, the file had been moved for release of grant-in- aid. Action has been taken. It will be provided within a couple of days”, said R Meenakumari, director, Women and Children Department.