ASHA workers staging dharna in Vijayawada on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: G.N. RAO
Members of the Accredited Social Health Activist (AHSA) staged a dharna at Alankar Centre here on Thursday, demanding that the government solve their issues.
The Asha workers, affiliated to various parties, urged the government to pay ₹10,000 pension, retirement benefits and increase their salaries.
Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy promised to consider their demands during ‘padayatra’, but had ignored them after coming to power, they alleged.
They urged the government to solve their genuine demands immediately.
‘’The YSRCP government is exploiting us by making us work more for less pay, and the burden of the work has only increased in the last few years,’‘ said A.P. ASHA Workers’ Union president A. Kamala.
“Without giving any prior training to us, the government is asking us to download apps and work on them. They fault us when we tell them there is no network. In Agency and rural areas, we do not have network all the time. How are we responsible for this? We should either be asked to work online or do only record work,” she said.
Ms. Kamala said the workers should get ₹26,000 as salary and half of it as pension. In addition to government holidays, the workers should also get medical and maternity leaves, and group insurance cover of ₹10 lakh.
Supporting their demands, the Human Rights Forum urged the government to look into the issue and ensure that their voices are heard and problems are solved.