Anganwari workers and helpers stage protest in Karnal

The Anganwari Workers and Helpers Union staged a protest in front of the Mini- Secretariat on Wednesday, raising their demands with slogans. The protest, which will continue for two more days, was led by state president Rupa Rana and conducted by district vice-president Reena.

The union leaders alleged that the anganwari workers were provided with mobile phones with 3GB RAM by the department. However, due to frequent updates of the Poshan Tracker app, these phones are not functioning properly. While updating Take Home Ration (THR) records, the system requires the same person's photo to be uploaded every time, but different family members, such as the grandmother, mother, father and other family members collect the ration. The department has also mandated OTP verification, but many poor families hesitate to share OTPs due to fears of cyber fraud. Besides, the phones provided to Anganwari workers lack sufficient capacity, making it difficult to operate the app smoothly, causing significant inconvenience.

During the protest, Rana raised several other demands, including immediate reinstatement of dismissed workers, filling vacant positions in the department, increasing the promotion quota from 25 per cent to 50 per cent, providing additional honorarium for workers assigned tasks outside their designated centres, filling vacant helper positions at the earliest, ensuring timely payment of honorarium.