ASHA workers demand increase in allowance as promised in manifesto

Jalandhar, June 9

On the call given by the ASHA Workers and Facilitators’ Union state committee to hold protest dharnas outside Civil Surgeons’ offices, Asha workers of the district too held a dharna outside the Civil Surgeon’s office under the leadership of its president Gurjit Kaur. Workers also raised slogans against the state government on the occasion.

Addressing the dharna, leaders Mandeep Kaur, Amritpal Kaur, Harinder Dosanjh and Kulwinder Singh Josan said while the state government extracted utmost work from ASHA workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, in return, it stopped the allowances of Central and state workers on March 31. They said ASHA workers were being deputed to carry out surveys on youngsters to detect whether they consumed drugs in the state, but this was the work of the narcotics cell of the police department.

The leaders said during the Congress regime the ASHA workers were able to get a fixed allowance of Rs 2,500. But the present government was imposing unnecessary conditions on the workers and rather than doubling the allowance as per its election manifesto, it was reducing the previous allowance.

They also said on the one hand, the government made lofty promises regarding mohalla clinics and better healthcare from August onwards, but on the other, it does not provide even minimum wages to ASHA workers who are the backbone of the Health Department.