The State-wide strike of the Anganwadi workers and helpers has gravely affected the supply of nutritional diet for children, pregnant and lactating women in the Centres.
Alleging that a ‘raw deal’ was being meted out to Anganwadi workers and helpers in the State, about 1.06 lakh women working in 55,607 centers went on an indefinite strike from December 12, 2023.
The protesters are demanding that their salaries be increased to ₹26,000 per month, removal of mini Anganwadi Centres, enhancement of pension and retirement benefits, eligibility for all government schemes, treatment at par with other government employees, the announcement of TD and DA, scrapping of the new apps, and clearance of pending bills. Leaders of AITUC, CITU, IFTU, TDP, CPI, CPI(M), CPI-ML New Democracy, Congress, and other parties extended support to the protesting workers.
A group of ministers and officials of the Women Development and Child Welfare (WD&CW) department, who held discussions with the agitating women thrice said that except for the salary hike, the government has agreed to all the demands. “The government has considered 10 out of their 11 demands and issued the related GOs. We appeal to the Anganwadi staff to resume duties in the interest of the children and pregnant women,” said WD&CW Principal Secretary, G. Jayalakshmi. However, the protesters remain resolute in their demand for a salary hike — from ₹7,500 and ₹11,500 for helpers and workers, respectively.
“Due to the ongoing strike, daily attendance of children has dropped from about 7.5 lakh to 2 lakh. The strike has also affected new registrations of children in Pre-Schools (Anganwadi Centres),” said a WD&CW officer. The strike is adversely affecting essential services like growth monitoring of malnourished children, immunisation, and health check-ups for pregnant women, the official said.
“As the supply of nutritional diet to children, pregnant and lactating women are affected, I request the Anganwadi workers to join for duties,” NTR District Collector, S. Dilli Rao, said in a statement and asked them to report in the concerned Anganwadi centres.
