On strike, Asha staff boycott polio drive

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, January 28

Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) , who are on a strike till January 30, today boycotted the pulse polio drive. They are demanding a hike in monthly wages and government employee status.

Sudha Pal, district secretary of the Asha Workers’ Union, said some workers today protested outside the residence of Badkhal MLA Seema Trikha. She said they would burn the effigy of Health Minister Anil Vij tomorrow and would go for mass court arrest on January 30.

A spokesperson for the union said they boycotted immunisation work today and threatened to step up their agitation.

Members of the Asha Workers’ Union, supported by the Sarva Karamchari Sangh, Haryana, yesterday also protested outside the residence of Union Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Krishan Pal Gurjar. Claiming that the honorarium of Rs 1,000 and incentives were paltry, Sudha said the work load was much more than nature of the job. Job regularisation and the revision of minimum wages to Rs 18,000 per month are the main demands, she said.

The post of Asha worker was created in 2006 to take care of the expecting mothers and providing post-natal care, including immunisation to babies. Though the honorarium was doubled to Rs 1,000 in 2015, the workers claim that it was still low in view of inflation and a sharp hike in the cost of living.