Seeking fulfilment of various demands including ‘wages commensurate to the work’, hundreds of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) took out a huge protest march in Haveri on Friday.
In the protest march taken out under the aegis of Karnataka State United ASHAs Association affiliated to AIUTUC, the workers marched from the Devagiri Road to the Deputy Commissioner’s office, where they staged a demonstration.
Addressing the protesters, State Secretary of the association D. Nagalakshmi said that as the Union government’s initiatives for various ASHA services had been linked to the RCH portal, they were not getting the wages directly and suffering financial loss from the last five years. They were also not being given incentives for various other works done by them, she alleged.
She said that despite the issue of utilising the services of ASHAs for works not prescribed had been brought to the notice of the officials, no step had been taken to resolve this. While the services of ASHAs during the COVID-19 pandemic had been applauded by the United Nations, the governments were least bothered to resolve the same, she alleged.
District working president Gangadhar Badiger said that although there was an order to hold a grievances meeting chaired by the ZP CEO, it was regrettable that till date the meeting had not been conducted in Haveri.
District President Jayasheela S.B. urged the ZP CEO to immediately convene the meeting to resolving the long-pending issues concerning the health activists. A memorandum in this regard was submitted to the district officials.
