Thousands of ASHA workers protest in Hyderabad demanding fixed salary and benefits

Thousands of Telangana ASHA workers staged a dharna at Koti demanding a fixed monthly salary of Rs 18,000, along with PF, ESI, paid leaves, job security, and better working conditions. They warned of disrupting government healthcare initiatives if demands remain unmet.

Hyderabad: Thousands of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers from across the state participated in a massive dharna in front of the Commissioner of Health office at Koti on Monday.

Demanding their long pending demands be met, the protestors threatened to derail state and central government sponsored healthcare initiatives in Telangana.

For the past one year, ASHA workers in Telangana have been holding multiple protests demanding fixed monthly salary of Rs 18,000.
“The state government is slashing incentives under the pretext that we are not meeting targets. Health department is now adopting a policy of dismissing ASHA workers in case of missed targets. The government must fix a salary of Rs 18,000 ,” said P.Jayalakshmi, state president, Telangana ASHA Workers Union.

The protestors charged the state government of failing to fulfill its pre-election promise of implementing a fixed wage, along with other benefits like Provident Fund and Employees’ State Insurance.

The other issues include inclusion of GPS tracking systems, excessive workload with unrealistic targets, delay in pending payments, job security, retirement benefits and paid leaves on Sunday and national holidays.

Last year in December, a similar protest at Koti led to severe confrontation between ASHA workers and police and several field level workers were injured.