Vijayawada: Anganwadi workers stage dharna

Vijayawada: Anganwadi workers staged a massive dharna at Dharna Chowk here on Monday, demanding that the government increase wages, implement gratuity as per the orders of Supreme Court and resolve the pending problems. They are demanding job security, payment of minimum wages, pension, provide PF, EPF and gratuity.

In response to the call given by CITU for the protests, several hundreds of Anganwadi workers launched the 36-hour protest in the State on Monday. The CITU called for State-wide protests demanding the government to fulfill the assurances given by the government.

CITU State president AV Nageswara Rao and general secretary Ch Narasinga Rao criticised that the problems of Anganwadi workers were not solved in the nine years of BJP rule. He alleged that the Union government is trying to reduce the Anganwadi centres in the country by implementing the new education policy. They alleged that 26 lakh Anganwadi workers and helpers did not get benefits from the union budget presented by the BJP government for the financial year of 2023-24. The two leaders said CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has assured that the wages of Anganwadi workers of Andhra Pradesh will be increased more than their counterparts in Telangana State but failed to implement it.