Govt unilaterally withdrew from talks, alleges Kerala ASHA workers

Thiruvananthapuram: More than two months after starting their agitation, ASHA workers protesting outside the Secretariat here said on Tuesday that they will not relent until their wages are increased. They also accused the state government of unilaterally withdrawing from the talks with them, PTI reported.

S Mini, state vice president of the Kerala ASHA Health Workers Association (KAHWA), whose members are carrying out the agitation, also alleged that the proposal to set up a committee to examine their demands and working conditions and give its report "was only a tactic aimed at ending the protest".

"The proposal to set up a committee was not a sincere one. No panel has been set up till now. It was only a tactic aimed at ending the protest.

"The protest will go on strongly. We will not end it without a hike in our wages," she told a TV channel.

A section of Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers have been protesting outside the Secretariat since February 10, demanding a hike in their honorarium from Rs 7,000 to Rs 21,000 and a post-retirement benefit of five lakh rupees.

As the protest entered its 65th day, Mini said that they were willing to end the agitation if the government were to increase, as an interim measure, their honorarium by Rs 3,000 and announce that retirement benefits of Rs 5 lakh would be provided.

"We informed the government about this in the last talks when they came up with the proposal to set up a committee. They (the government) said that talks would continue on the next day. But, on the next day, they informed us that there would be no talks. So, it is the government which unilaterally withdrew from the talks," she claimed.

She was referring to the fifth round of talks held with the government on April 3.