Undeterred, protesting anganwari workers spend night at Karnal park

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Karnal, February 15

Undeterred by cold weather, hundreds of anganwari workers and helpers across the state spent a night in tents at Fountain Park in Sector-12 to press their demands. They took out a protest march on Tuesday and staged a dharna outside the Mini Secretariat, which led to traffic chaos there.

After a meeting with Deputy Commission Anish Yadav, Superintendent of Police Ganga Ram Punia and SDM Gaurav Kumar, the angawari workers and helpers lifted the blockade and went back to the park. The DC assured them a meeting with the Principal Secretary of Women and Child Development Departmnet on Friday in Chandigarh.

In the meanwhile, the Anganwari Workers and Helpers Association announced to extend the ongoing strike till March 5. A group of workers and helpers will continue the dharna in Karnal, while the remaining will do so at their district headquarters.

They said they had been staging the dharna for the past over 70 days across the state, but their demands were not being considered.

Members of the Talmel Committee said on September 10, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to increase the wages of workers and helpers by Rs 1,500 and Rs 750, respectively, but to no avail. They further alleged that Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had also promised in March 2018 to fix their wages as per skilled and semi-skilled workers, but this promise was also not fulfilled.