Protesting ASHA workers invite all women in Kerala to join them

Thiruvananthapuram: After 24 days of nonstop protests outside the Secretariat, a group of ASHA employees said on Wednesday that they would step up their agitation by urging all state women to join them.

They are calling for an increase in their honorarium and retirement benefits. They informed reporters here that they plan to invite all women in the state to join them on March 8, International Women's Day.

They also said that they were not concerned whether it was the Centre or the state government which is responsible for their predicament.

"They both are equally responsible and have to sit together and work out a solution. Our issue is that we cannot survive by working for Rs 232 per day. Right now we can say this to the state government only.

"When we get time, we will tell the Centre also," one of the protesting Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers told reporters.

They also said that since they work for the state government, it should take the initiative to address their demands.

On Tuesday, the BJP had backed the ongoing protest by a section of ASHA workers by holding a march by the party's women's wing Mahila Morcha to the Secretariat here and claimed that the Centre was not responsible for the situation.

The same day, the Congress-led UDF had raised the issue of the ASHA workers' demands in the state Assembly and protested in the House for not discussing the matter.

The state government had said in the House that around Rs 98 crore was yet to be received from the Centre as its share towards incentives to be given to ASHA workers.

With PTI inputs