Asha workers hit the streets in Shillong as govt fails to clear their pending dues 

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaMarch 4, 2022

Thousands of Asha workers on Friday took out a protest rally against the state government’s failure to release their pending dues.

The rally organized by the All Meghalaya Asha Workers Union (AMAWU) started from MTC bus stand to Malki football ground. The government has failed to pay incentives to the Asha workers for nearly three years since 2020. 

The Asha workers were prevented from marching towards the main secretariat after the health minister James K Sangma had agreed to meet the delegation from the association for discussion on the matter. 

Speaking to media persons after meeting with health minister, adviser of AMAWU Sony Kharjana that the meeting was not fruitful as the minister asked the ASHA to wait till the month of June for the government to review the demands of the ASHA. 

“The rally today was to demand from the state government to release our fixed incentives of Rs. 2000 per ASHA and also to demand from the government to revive the payment to ASHA as per their duty in a day” said Kharjana.

Kharjana said that many ASHA have not received their fixed incentives from 2020 and with the work that they are serving the people almost everyday most ASHA workers have to shell out from their own pockets even for medical expenses at times when required.

She added that apart from the incentive most ASHA workers are denied benefits such as medical allowances and other allowances as per the prescribed norms laid down by the National Health Mission (NHM).

“On our meeting with the health minister, we demanded that the state government clear our pending dues by April 2022 and also to our fixed incentives from Rs. 66 rupees to Rs.300 per day” she added.

When asked about the assurances of the health minister, Kharjana said that the minister has asked the union to give time till June 2022 for the health department to examine the matter.

“As per the assurance by the health minister, we will give time for the state government to do the needful and if the state government fails them again they will again resort to strike and other agitational programme” said Kharjana.