Warangal: Aasha workers’ protest enters 12th day

Warangal: Tension prevailed for some time when the police foiled the Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers’ bid to lay siege to the Hanumakonda Collectorate on Thursday.

It may be mentioned here that the ASHA workers led by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) have been staging protests for the last 11 days, demanding a hike in salaries and job security.

The police who set up barricades and barbed wire fences thwarted the efforts of ASHA workers from barging into the Collectorate. The protestors and police jostled with each other when the CITU district secretary Ragula Ramesh and vice-president Botla Chakrapani tried to barge into the Collectorate. But the police pulled them out and arrested them. The workers shouted slogans against Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, accusing him of ignoring their justifiable demands.

Demanding release of CITU leaders, around 400 ASHA workers staged a protest in front of the Subedari police station. Speaking at the protest, Botla Chakrapani said that as many as 10 ASHA workers were injured when the police used force. He said KCR who promised to pay Rs 18,000 a month to the ASHA workers didn’t fulfill it even after nine-and-a-half-year.

Chakrapani said that the government is overusing the ASHA workers without paying anything extra. He said that the government was trying to suppress the voice of the ASHA workers by using the police. He demanded the government to hike the salaries of ASHA workers besides providing them the PF, ESI and Rs 5 lakh insurance facilities.

Telangana ASHA workers union leaders Karunalatha, Rajitha, Ch Srivani, K Kalpana, Padma Sunitha, Suryakala, Shobha, Subhashini, Yellakka Rani and S Rama were among others present.