Vijayawada: Anganwadis on war path

Vijayawada: The 15-day-old agitation of Anganwadi workers is gaining steam and is poised to get intensified as the state government on Tuesday turned down their demand for a hike in their wages. The group of ministers who met the representatives of Anganwadi workers said the government cannot hike their wages and asked them to call of their strike till Sankranti.

Refusing to withdraw the strike, the Anganwadi workers have decided to intensify the agitation from Wednesday. They told the media that they would hold protests in front of the houses of public representatives from Wednesday and still if the government does not agree, they will resort to ‘Gherao of Collectorate’.

Extending support to them, village and ward volunteers, municipal sanitary workers and unemployed youth have decided to join the protests.

The Anganwadi strike had resulted in the closure of 50,000 centres in the state. They had submitted a memorandum of 11 demands, including treating them on par with govt employees, gratuity and increase of their salaries to Rs 26,000. They said the state government had promised to pay Rs 1000 more than what was being paid in the neighbouring Telangana but had gone back on its word and cheated them.

They said though they had met the group of ministers twice so far, no solution could be found.

Meanwhile, the volunteers of village and ward secretaries also decided to join the strike demanding an increase in wages and regularisation of services. The volunteers who are unhappy with their meagre honorarium decided to boycott ‘Adudam Andhra’ sports festival in the state. It may be noted the YCP govt introduced the village and ward volunteer’s system in 2019. The unemployed also took to agitation path and staged protest in the name of ‘Adugudam Andhra’ at Guntur during Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s visit to inaugurate the sports festival. However, the police foiled their attempt to meet the CM and submit a memorandum.